


Soldier Wars

by jstonedd



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Crazy stuff, F/F, Soldier Game Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-25 20:53:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 62,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3824704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jstonedd/pseuds/jstonedd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Soldiers risk their lives everyday to fight for a better future. Not all of them are in uniform.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Soldier Wars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11943843) by [jstonedd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jstonedd/pseuds/jstonedd)



> A lil bit late with posting this story on here but better late than never right

 

## \---------------------------  
SOLDIER WARS  
\---------------------------

If there was one piece of clothing she could always rely on, it was a white dress shirt. A white dress shirt matched with every kind of tie and every kind of suit and also every kind of pants. There was nothing she could do wrong with wearing a white dress shirt to work, it was the simplicity that gave her this much freedom.

She buttoned her shirt top down, stuck the hem inside her black dress pants, then turned up the collar. Now came the hardest decision. Choosing a tie. It wouldn't even be much of a decision if she possessed only three like she had before, but after getting together with her girlfriend, now fiancée, her collection of ties had vastly increased.

"I like the blue one with the gray stripes," a light voice muttered in her ear from behind, warm breath brushing her skin. She closed her eyes when teeth began to teasingly nibble on her earlobe.

"Me too. It's the very first one you bought for me."

"You still remember..."

"Of course I do. I remember everything about you, Kotori."

"Umi, you flatterer."

Kotori gently pulled at Umi's shoulders to turn her around and give her a quick kiss on the lips. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Umi mumbled, smiling. She picked the tie Kotori had chosen and hung it around her neck, pulling at the ends until they had the right proportion for a simple knot.

"Can I?" Kotori took both ends of the tie into her hands, tugging Umi closer to her. Umi sucked in a breath at the closeness and nodded.

Since Kotori didn't tie ties as often as Umi did, her motions weren't as fluid as Umi's practiced hand movements, but they didn't lack in elegance. They were slow, deliberate movements and almost seemed like a soothing ritual to Umi, who had never treated her ties as softly as Kotori did.

"There." Kotori finished tying the knot, careful not to make it too tight around the collar. After placing it in a central position, she pulled down the collar and proceeded to brush away tiny dust particles, which Umi deemed as non-existent. But she had learned not to argue with a fashion designer and perfectionist.

"Thank you," Umi muttered, wondering why her heart was pounding so fast just from watching Kotori tying her tie for her up close.

Kotori lightly tugged at her tie, and reading her wish, Umi leaned in and met her lips in a kiss, holding her breath when Kotori slung her arms around her neck and pulled her closer.

"I have to get to work," Umi whispered when their lips parted, but her own hands betrayed her words when they settled on Kotori's waist, which was only covered by the thin silk of her pajama.

"One more?" Kotori asked in an innocent tone, drawing a circle on Umi's back with her finger.

Umi closed her eyes at the touch, knowing that it wouldn't end with just one more kiss if she gave in now. It wouldn't even end after two more or three more, it would only end until both were entangled in the sheets of their bed, out of breath and covered with sweat, but satisfied and blissful.

"I...I can't," Umi said like she was in pain, "I have a meeting. I absolutely can't miss that."

"Oh," Kotori muttered in disappointment, and it almost caused Umi to change her mind, but she truly had an appointment she couldn't miss.

"I will make it up to you, I promise," Umi whispered, brushing her nose against Kotori's, which elicited a giggle. "I'll try to wrap up today's work a little bit sooner."

"Please do," Kotori muttered, pressing her lips against Umi's cheeks. It took her some willpower to step away from her fiancée. "Have fun at work."

Umi weakly chuckled at the word 'fun'. "Thank you. You too."

On her way out the door, she grabbed her leather handbag for work and her car keys, thinking about how she already looked forward to coming home again. As long as the meeting would be a success, getting off early from work should be possible.

* * *

 

Eli liked routine. Sadly, her work didn't provide much of that even if technically, the process was always the same. But at least in her home she got to decide on a routine for herself. And that was dressing herself. Choosing matching dress shirts, ties and suits was almost a spiritual ritual every morning as her girlfriend liked to call it and Eli had to agree. Nothing was more satisfying than piecing together a matching outfit.

She also had a very strict order of dressing herself. Underwear first, of course. Dress shirt before pants because that simplified the process of sticking the hem of her shirt into her pants. Then tie, at last the suit.

While she knew that one of her work colleagues, Sonoda Umi, preferred white dress shirts with unicolored ties or striped ones, Eli liked the variety of colors and was more willing to experiment with different patterns on her tie. It didn't always go well, which her girlfriend made sure to let her know when she had put together a weird combination again.

Today she went for a light blue shirt, a black tie with gray checkered lines and a navy blue suit. It was one of the more conservative combinations because she didn't feel like being too playful today. She had a serious meeting in the morning where much of her future depended on it. Her clothes always reflected her mood.

"You know what they say about people who frown too much."

Eli's expression relaxed and she chuckled. "I'm still young. I'll be fine."

When she turned around to greet her girlfriend, her words remained stuck in her throat that had instantly dried up.

Casually leaning against the doorframe, Nozomi was still in her underwear, smirking at Eli.

"I – I have an important meeting," Eli stuttered, averting her eyes.

"I didn't say anything about wanting you to stay?" Nozomi raised an eyebrow, her smug smirk growing.

Eli opened and closed her mouth, knowing that she had lost this one. It was difficult to win against Nozomi in anything, that woman seemed to know how to defeat her without even starting the game.

There was no way to not sound childish about it, so Eli refrained from saying anything that would only give Nozomi more power to tease her. She slipped into her suit jacket and pulled at the sleeves of her dress shirt until two centimeters protruded the sleeve of the suit jacket. Her ritual was done, she was ready to leave but remembered that Nozomi was still blocking the door. Sort of. Eli could of course simply walk past her, and Nozomi would probably let her, but still, the thought held her still.

"I thought you had an important meeting?" Nozomi asked, her voice sweet and teasing.

How Eli wished it would be any other day so she could lift up Nozomi in her arms and carry her back to the bedroom, how she wished she didn't have a meeting so early. But duty called and Eli was nothing if not dutiful.

"Yes," Eli breathed out with difficulty, but remained unmoving.

Nozomi pushed herself off the doorframe and strutted up to Eli, circling her stiff form, letting her fingertips brush Eli's shoulders and arms. "Are you not in a hurry?"

"Yes," Eli repeated, monotone and curt.

Nozomi chuckled, playing with blonde hair. "You sound almost like a soldier."

Eli's jaw tensed, "What makes you think that?"

"Hm," Nozomi hummed, closing in on Eli, "you stand as stiff as a board. Even though we've been together for so long now. But don't worry, I'll help you loosen up..."

She left a trail of soft kisses along Eli's jawline, kissing her way up to the blonde's ear before she softly blew into it. Eli shivered.

"I really need to go now," Eli panted, forcing herself to face the other way.

"Hm, have a good day at work." Nozomi kissed her on the cheeks before strutting out of the room, making sure to add an extra swing to her hips. Eli's gaze followed her girlfriend's lower half until she was out of the room.

She shook her head at herself, trying to get her mind out of the gutter.

* * *

 

"Maki...Maki, wake up..."

"Mhm..."

"Don't be like that, Maki."

"Mhm..."

"Seems like I have no choice."

Teasing fingers danced their way up and down a naked back, expanding their range with every run until they landed on firm buttcheeks, pinching them.

"Mhm!"

Hazy eyes blinked in confusion, meeting wide awake ones which were grinning at her. "Good morning, Maki."

"Morning," the sleepy woman mumbled, a lazy smile on her lips as she fought to keep her eyes open so she could gaze at her lover for a little bit longer.

"I have to leave early and depending on how much work my manager scheduled for today, I might not come back before tomorrow. Just wanted to say goodbye in case that happens."

Maki wiggled closer to her wife so she could snuggle up against her, placing an arm around her waist. "Just five more minutes, Nico."

Chuckling, Nico indulged the request, raking through Maki's messy hair with her fingers. "Don't you have work today too?"

"Later."

"That's odd. You usually have meetings in the mornings."

"I switched," Maki mumbled into Nico's neck. "Switched work with a colleague. Have different times of meetings now."

Nico hummed in understanding. "I didn't know you could switch work. What are you doing now?"

"Basically the same as before," Maki muttered, stifling a yawn. "Just in a different department."

"Do you like it better now?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

The mattress dipped when Maki pushed herself up, straddling Nico beneath her. Nico swallowed, looking up with wide eyes. "Maki?"

"Why, you ask," Maki mumbled, licking her lips as she took in the sight of her naked lover, who had just recovered from last night's activities. "Because I get to spend more time with you in the morning now."

"M-Maki, I have a photoshoot in two hours and I need to be there for make-up in one hour and you know how traffic is in -"

The rest of her sentence stifled in a kiss; a hungry mouth moved against her lips until they gave way to moans of pleasure. It was a dance they would never tire of, no matter how many times they danced it and no matter how much they knew it inside out. And they intended to repeat it until the rest of their lives if the rings on their left ring finger was anything to go by.

* * *

 

Punctual as always, a black sedan with tinted windows smoothly rolled into the driveway and came to a stop right before her. Eli opened the door to the passenger's side and climbed in, greeting the person on the driver's side. "Morning, Umi."

"Good morning."

Umi glanced at her friend's expression before looking over her shoulder as she drove backwards out of the driveway. "Not happy about working the morning shift?"

Eli sighed. "No, that's not it. It's just...hard to leave a bed that's so warm -"

"-And has Nozomi in it?" Umi finished for her. When Eli didn't answer, Umi assumed that she was right. "If it's any comfort, I know how you feel. Well, not about that Nozomi part, but, you know."

"Yeah," Eli chuckled, knowing the affectionate nature of Umi's fiancée. "Kotori's lucky that she can decide whether to work at home or at her office."

"I told her that, but she said it's the opposite," Umi said, knitting her brows. "At home she can't concentrate and at her office she doesn't feel inspired."

"Sounds rough. Can she even design that many dresses to keep up with the speed they're being sold at?"

"Actually, yes. She took to sketching rough designs at home and polishing them at the office," Umi answered, a small smile forming on her lips as she thought of her fiancée. "I'm proud that she managed to increase her productivity which was a factor she used to struggle with."

"Maybe it's your good influence," Eli said with a laugh. "Speaking of productivity, what's our first order of business?"

"Imada Ira," Umi replied instantly, getting into her serious business mode. "Founder and CEO of the Imada Corporation, a company with dozens of branches across Japan and in neighboring countries. Mostly involved in the production of chemicals such as for hair dye, paint or cleaning fluid."

"Hm," Eli hummed. "I can guess where this is going."

"Generates billions, but doesn't invest one single Yen in the protection of the environment or in improving the work conditions of his employees. He covers it up by bribing journalists and deleting critical content on the internet. His influence goes so far that even the police arrests opponents for him with fake charges."

Eli sighed. "So the only reason he invited us to him is because he wants to get rid of us. I knew there was something shifty about him accepting an inquiry from an environmental organization."

"That wasn't all," Umi said, impatiently tapping on the steering wheel when they found themselves stuck in traffic. "The chemical garbage that his company produces is led into nearby rivers. Those rivers are the main water source for the locals. I don't have the accurate numbers, but around 150 people have died so far from drinking the poisoned water and thousands are terminally ill, a third of them are children."

It became silent in the car, only the sound of the engine softly purring was to be heard.

Then, letting out a low growl, Eli slammed her fist down on the dashboard in anger. "How could it come to this? How did no one notice?"

"The chemicals are colorless and odorless," Umi said calmly, shifting gears when the cars started moving again. "Unless you test the water in a lab, no one can tell that it's been soiled. But no one official has tested those rivers for years, they are bribed to present fake results of clean water."

Eli massaged her forehead. "We really need to put an end to this."

"That's what we are here for."

* * *

 

"We are very pleased about the interest you have expressed in our project, Mr Imada, and we would like to display our strong points in a short digital presentation." Eli bowed politely.

Umi placed her bag on the table, tapping it with her finger. "Everything the ES is about is inside here."

Imada leaned back in his office armchair, crossing his arms behind his head. "Make it quick, I don't have all day. Also, would you mind not placing your bag on my table? It's new and I spent a good chunk of money on it."

"Excuse me," Umi said and took her bag off the table. "I did not know that."

"I didn't expect women to recognize the true value of anything," Imada said with a contemptuous smirk. "But you're forgiven, since you're such a pretty one."

"That is very kind, Mr Imada," Umi replied politely, rummaging in her bag while Eli used her elbow to push a button that would automatically let down the shutters, dimming the room.

"Oh, that's a nice mood," Imada grunted, his lecherous gaze following Eli's behind as she went to her own bag, searching for something she needed for the presentation. She took out a pair of black gloves.

"Gloves?" Imada muttered, perplexed. "What do you need gloves for?"

Umi turned around to him.

"For this."

A metallic click next to his head made him freeze. "Wha-what?" 

The cool opening of a gun pressed itself against his temple, the touch causing his whole body to shake and break out in cold sweat. Even if his body knew what was happening right now, his mind couldn't process it; what happened? What was going on?

"Let's start with the presentation." Eli took her time to put on one glove, then the other, wiggling her fingers in them until they fit. She gave Imada a cold look. "The ES organization isn't short for Environmental Science, in fact, it doesn't even exist at all, but you weren't interested anyway. You were just looking for a way to get rid of us because your factories have been spilling toxins since their very first day."

"Wha – what are you," Imada cried, his whole body trembling, and he held his hands up to show his helplessness in a desperate attempt to be spared. "D-don't do this, I'll give you anything, please don't do this...whatever you want..."

"What we want," Umi said, no sympathy in her voice, "is you to be quiet. We heard enough of you today."

"Almost shot him when he wouldn't let go of my hand at the greeting," Eli mumbled, taking out a USB stick and plugging it into Imada's personal computer.

"No – you can't -"

"Just shut up."

Eli typed on the keyboard, entering commands and orders that searched for hidden data in the system. It came up with several results, but they demanded a password to be opened. "Passwords? Do you really think you can still protect sensitive data with passwords nowadays?"

"No...no...don't..." Imada's voice became fainter as he watched Eli run a program that her USB carried, cracking his password within seconds.

Documents, reports, lists with names and dozens of pictures popped up, the latter category showing an inconspicuous river with dead fish floating on the surface, malnourished people with tumors growing out of their body and various faces that seemed to be the company's opponents and targets.

Umi pressed her gun harder against Imada's head when he became even more fidgety at the sight of those pictures, whimpering in fear. Eli copied the files, erased tracks of the transfer and pulled the USB stick out. She put it inside her suit pocket.

"You asked us what we are," Eli said in an even tone, not facing Imada, who had started weeping, hardly able to breathe through his sobs. "We are Soldiers."

"S-Soldiers?"

"We will assassinate everyone who abuses their position of power for their own gain and greed, who is toxic for the society and impedes the natural progress of society as a whole." Umi increased the pressure of her gun against Imada's head. "We assassinate people like you, Imada, who has everything but still wants more, taking everything away from people who have less. Your existence causes far greater damage to humanity than utility, so we have determined to stop this injustice."

Eli turned around to face him, not bothered to suppress a grimace when his pitiful face disgusted her. "Any last words?"

"You won't get away with this," he sobbed, "I have cameras installed -"

"- That we have disabled beforehand. And no one will notice because you saved money by not hiring a security guard."

"My secretary -"

"- Is busy working her second job as a call center agent because you don't pay her enough to be able to finance her family. She will not enter your office until you call her."

"Someone will -"

"Give up," Eli sighed. "You have destroyed too many lives for your own to be mourned. Umi, please."

And before Imada could yell out his last protest, a bullet went through his skin, skull and brain, killing him within ten seconds. He slumped down in his chair, lifeless, tears drying on a shocked expression that was going to freeze in place forever.

Umi detached the silencer from her gun, putting it back into her bag, then placed the gun inside her suit in a hidden holster. "He was an abominable man."

"Like all of our targets," Eli replied, sighing. "Let's go, I don't want to see him any longer."

They packed their bags and left the office, keeping their gloves on as they still needed to open doors and touch the buttons of an elevator. They walked past the phoning secretary, past the unmotivated workers sitting in their tiny cubicles and past an unsupervised entrance with an inactivated weapon scanner.

Eli glanced at her watch once they stepped outside. "Everything according to plan. What's your estimate on time of discovery?"

"Two days," Umi said without deliberating. "He has no family, no loved ones, and he has never bothered with friendships based on mutual respect. His work is mostly done by the executive committee. He has no significant function inside the company, being just a representative on the outside."

Eli chuckled at the immediate response. "I have yet to be proven wrong by your scaringly accurate predictions."

"They are not predictions," Umi unlocked her car, "they are calculations. Based on facts. Maybe Nozomi is not a good influence on you with her future telling card games."

"Fortune telling," Eli corrected, getting into the car from the front passenger's side as Umi got into the driver's seat, "and her fortune telling is scaringly accurate as well."

Umi didn't comment that interpreting cards had more arbitrariness than anything else, starting the car. "Did she ever read your fortune?"

"She did," Eli smiled at the memory, absently gazing out the window as they drove from the parking lot onto the streets. "It was the first time we met. I was jogging at the park when there was this little crowd around her. Everyone wanted Nozomi to read their fortunes because she had a reputation that her predictions were quite accurate. I didn't believe it of course, so I wanted her to read mine too."

Umi glanced at her partner, then focused back on the streets. "What did she say?"

"She pulled the upright Justice card. Said that I am driven by a strong need for fairness and harmony. That I would fight for equality." Eli shook her head. "That got me. As if she knew what I was dedicating my life to."

"Coincidence," Umi muttered.

"That was what I thought too," Eli agreed. "And I searched her again in the park. Told her to do it a second time. She pulled the Justice card again." Her voice became quiet in embarrassment. "Said the same thing again. But added that I would soon enter a committed relationship."

Umi raised an eyebrow at her partner, who quietly added, "We got together two weeks after."

"Maybe I should try it out too," Umi mused, "but I don't want to receive any bad news before the wedding."

"Oh, right," Eli remembered that Umi was going to get married in a month, "how are the plans going?"

Umi cursed under her breath when the car in front of her didn't use its blinkers, abruptly slowing down before turning right, needing her to react fast if she didn't want to crash into it. Frustrated by that action, Umi said in a darker tone than intended, "Kotori hired a wedding planner. It's going great."

"Do you already know how many guests you'll have?" Eli asked.

"Too many," Umi sighed. "And they all come from Kotori's side. I mean, I only have you, Nozomi and Maki and her wife to invite."

Eli chuckled at the grimace Umi pulled. "There's no way around it. She is the heiress of the Minami Group after all. She probably didn't even want to invite half of the people that will be attending."

Umi hummed in reply. It was true after all, half of their guests had received an invite because of business related reasons.

"Hey, Umi," Eli said, her voice shifting to quiet and serious. She looked outside the window. "You really love her, don't you?"

Umi didn't look at her partner nor did she reply. The sole sign of her acknowledgment of Eli's question were her tense jaw muscles.

"What are you going to do?" Eli asked, her eyes not really taking in the passing scenery. "Do you have a Plan B?"

Umi tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "I just hope that I'll never have to be confronted with a scenario that requires a Plan B. But at the same time, I'm not that delusional about being able to keep this up forever."

Eli closed her eyes, leaning her head against the headrest. "It would be that much easier if we didn't have feelings."

"Arguable," Umi replied. "Imada was only capable of doing the things he did because he lacked emotions."

"You know what I mean."

Umi knitted her brows. "Too well, I'm afraid." She paused, looking in the rear view mirror to check if cars were approaching from behind, so she could park in a vertical parking space. "That was the biggest miscalculation I ever made."

"Are we talking about parking or..."

"No," Umi smoothly parked the car without needing correction. She turned off the engine and turned to Eli with a serious expression. "Everything that happened after meeting Kotori. I miscalculated big time."

Eli placed a hand on Umi's shoulder to calm her down, giving her a small smile. "You can't calculate everything, Umi. And I think it's the best mistake you ever made."

Umi seemed to relax a bit at those words. "I think so too. I don't regret anything. Yet."

"Don't jinx it, you fool," Eli chuckled, lightly knocking Umi's shoulder. "You're going to get married! And to what a bride, people would kill to be in your position."

A smile finally loosened up Umi's face. "That's why I kill them first."

\-----------------------------

"Koizumi just sent us the profile of our next target," Eli muttered, swiping through her tablet computer. She let out a low whistle. "That's one ugly list of crimes."

Umi walked over to her colleague and gazed over her shoulder to get a look at the screen too. "Even more disgusting than Imada. But less high profile. Can I ask you to handle that one alone tomorrow? I have a gala to attend again."

Eli put the tablet away, stretching her arms with a yawn. "No problem. Koizumi rated his security measures as extremely low because being low profile made him feel safe." She rotated around in her armchair. "A gala hosted by the Minami Group? Nozomi already told me about it."

Nodding, Umi let herself fall down on the second armchair in the room. "I'd rather not talk about that, those events are tiring. The false friendliness and plastic smiles are difficult to get used to." She cringed at the thought. "On a side note, will Nozomi be there tomorrow too? I heard she was the organizer again."

Eli chuckled, shaking her head. "She asked Mrs Minami if she could take the night off. Even though she's the one who planned it, she's no longer interested in attending those events either."

"I have a lot of respect for her," Umi said with a nod. "Kotori says that her mother is very demanding, but Nozomi always does her job with a smile. Being an assistant these days isn't easy."

"I don't think I've ever heard Nozomi complaining," Eli said thoughtfully. "She seems to like her job no matter how busy she gets. But lately, it does seem like we're attending less galas than before. Not that I miss meeting sleazy rich people who somehow always end up as our next targets."

Umi nodded in agreement. "Speaking of targets, does Maki have a case tonight?"

"Yeah." Eli chuckled. "She wanted to have less jobs in the morning. Said she needed more time with her wife. How can I say no to that?"

"Can't be easy, dating an A-List celebrity," Umi said, impressed. "I have yet to meet this Yazawa Nico."

"Me too. I still find it hard to believe that she and Maki actually match. And to think we've been joking when we suggested Maki to date her..."

Umi gave Eli a weak smile. "It's not rare that great things start with a jokingly meant suggestion."

"So wise and so young," Eli muttered with grin, shaking her head. "Umi, you could've become someone really great."

"That goes for a lot of people, but they were never even given the chance to. If I can change that, if I can create a better life for them, then I will do it."

She vocalized Eli's exact same mindset with few, concise words, summing up everything their organization stood for. 

If dirtying their own hands was what it took to clean the world of corruption, then they would do it. If acting morally wrong was what it took to protect those acting morally right, then they would do it. The Soldiers were ready to commit evil to stop greater evil from spreading.

They didn't see themselves as heroes, they knew they were far from it. This wasn't a debate about morals or doing the right thing, this wasn't about self-sacrifice or honor.

Growing up in the shadow side of reality, they had seen horrible things in the darkness that others would never find or stumble upon. They knew that it took someone living in the dark to kill someone in the dark. There was no one else but them who could do this, who could live both in the dark and beneath the sun without losing sight of who they were supposed to be.

The dark parts of the world only existed because the people living on the light side let them exist. As long as it didn't affect them, as long as their own safety and fortune was secured, they tolerated and even added to the struggle that was happening on the other side. The darkness had its roots in the light, and the Soldiers had recognized the need to cut off those roots to stop them from spreading, to stop those dark spots from dimming the light around them.

They certainly were no heroes. They didn't wait for people to shout for their help. They acted now, so one day people wouldn't have to shout for help anymore.

They certainly didn't want to be mistaken as heroes. Their sense of justice was relative. There was no absolute definition of good and bad, there was no scale to measure the amount of justice they could restore. They only saw the bigger picture of their goals, and that was to balance the world out with equality by eliminating the irregularities.

They knew their goal, they knew their enemy, they knew their objective. In the end, they were just like soldiers on a battlefield, with the only difference that it was a battlefield they had chosen for themselves.

* * *

 

Impatiently glancing at her watch every few minutes, Umi wondered when it was socially acceptable to leave the gala. She didn't have high hopes of being released soon since it was a party that her fiancée's mother's company was hosting, and as the future wife of the future successor of the Minami Group, Umi had no choice but to stick around until the end. Until now, she had been successfully avoiding social interaction with other guests by standing in the corner of the room, sipping on the same drink for over an hour now. People had tried to approach her, but her dark glare held them off.

Even when standing apart from the main crowd, she could still catch scraps of their conversations, and their topics made her cringe. The upper class of society was scary, and trying to understand how they worked was futile.

Umi noticed Kotori trying to wiggle her way through to her, but got held up by two guests. Shooting helpless looks at Umi, Kotori put on a fake smile and pretended to be interested in what her guests had to say.

Umi put her drink aside, smoothing over her suit. No one got in the way between her and Kotori.

"Gentlemen," Umi greeted with a polite nod when she approached them, placing herself next to Kotori. She could hear her fiancée breathing out in relief.

"Oh, Ms Sonoda, we were just talking about your wedding plans," the elderly guest said, one head shorter than the two women. "I look forward to seeing Ms Minami in a stunning dress that she will design herself, I assume?"

Kotori nodded, her smile less stiff now that Umi was here. "But I'm not done with it yet."

"It will be magnificent, no doubt!" the other guest said enthusiastically, sounding like it was his own wedding. "Then, we wish you two a joyful evening. It was nice talking to you."

The two men bowed before disappearing in the crowd again.

"Hey," Umi grasped Kotori's hand, "are you okay?"

Kotori squeezed her fiancée's hand. "I will be if you dance with me."

"Dance?" Umi turned her head to the mostly empty dancefloor where few people were slow-dancing to a mild ballad. "Everyone will look at us."

"Please?" Kotori looked at her with pleading eyes, jutting out her bottom lip, and Umi stopped breathing. "You can dance, so what are you worrying about?"

"I..." Umi trailed off, unable to gaze at her fiancée's expression any longer without melting. "Fine. But only one dance."

Curious gazes followed the couple as they made their way to the dancefloor. When the DJ saw the heiress of the Minami Group coming, he quickly switched the music, putting on a popular ballad that pulled more people to the dancefloor.

"Do you want to take the lead this time?" Kotori whispered in Umi's ear, their bodies pressed against each other. "It's easy."

"Okay," Umi breathed, focused on getting enough air into her lungs because being so close to her beautiful lover messed up her heart beat. She placed a tentative hand on Kotori's waist, no pressure behind her touch at all, so Kotori placed her own hand over it to signal it was okay to hold on, she wasn't made of glass.

"Umi, I'm okay," she said, putting a hand on Umi's shoulder, the other grabbing her free hand. "It's very cute how you act so shy around me."

"I'm not shy," Umi denied, swallowing when her nose picked up Kotori's perfume. They began swaying to the gentle music, moving their body along to the soft melody. "I'm just careful...about not treating you wrong."

"Oh, Umi," Kotori giggled, "where did you learn your ways of flattering into people's hearts?"

Umi tensed up for a second before replying as non-chalant as she could, "Natural talent, I assume."

"Hm, you are quite talented," Kotori agreed, smiling.

Umi managed to maneuver them on the dancefloor without bumping into any other couples, and when the song came to end, she exhaled in relief, wanting to leave the dancefloor that was getting crowded.

"No, one more," Kotori pouted, not letting go of Umi's hand and shoulder. "You still need to make up for yesterday morning."

Umi gave in fairly quick, resuming her position without protest. "You're becoming spoiled, Kotori. I distinctly remember making it up to you right after I came home."

Kotori hummed, pretending to think about it before she shook her head with a smile. "No, no memory of it."

"Really?" Umi raised an eyebrow, leaning forward to brush her lips against Kotori's ear, eliciting a small shudder, "Absolutely no memory of how you greeted me in your newly purchased lingerie?"

"No," Kotori moaned quietly, her fingers digging into Umi's shoulder when Umi ground her hips against her, only getting away with it because the dancefloor was full now and the lighting had been dimmed to create a better partying mood.

"That's strange," Umi whispered into her ear, letting her voice drop as deep as she could, "then, I must have dreamed about making love to you on your work desk."

Kotori gasped, "U-Umi..." 

"And in that dream," Umi closed her eyes, shivering at the memory, "I heard you begging...begging me to take you from behi-"

"Umi!" Kotori suddenly pushed Umi away at an arm's length, gazing at her with glassy eyes, her cheeks flushed and breathing ragged. "Stop, I can't, I still have many business partners to greet tonight."

When Umi realized what she had done, she felt heat crawling up her neck, making it very hot in her suit. She pulled at the knot of her tie to loosen it up. "I – I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"It's okay, I-"

"Ah, Ms Minami!" someone called out, and a woman in a sparkling designer dress approached them.

Umi held her breath when she recognized that woman. Pouty lips, button nose and bedroom eyes.

Yuuki Anju, a socialite since she was eighteen, used to be seen more frequently at parties than at home, but her life turned around when her father died in a yacht accident, inheriting his company over night. To the public's surprise, the heiress didn't run from her responsibility and took over her father's work, becoming the youngest female CEO of a market-listed company. Of course her position hadn't been granted to her easily; many within the manager tier wanted the throne for themselves, but Anju was lucky that her father had thought of everything. His will and company law stated that she had one year time to get her act together and learn the ropes of leading the firm, until then, only a representative group acted as the company's leader. And she had taken that second chance.

"Umi."

Anju said her name with the familiarity of a friend. Kotori was confused, did they know each other? In the two years she had been together with Umi, she had not mentioned once that she might be acquainted with the CEO of Yuuki Tecs, one of the country's biggest conglomerates.

Umi hid her uneasiness and nodded. "Good evening."

Behind Anju, a taller woman in a black suit appeared, but it wasn't a formal suit. Combined with the wired ear piece she was wearing, Umi deduced that it was Anju's bodyguard, who was glaring at her like she was expecting Umi to reach out and hit Anju.

"Excuse my rudeness, I haven't introduced myself properly yet," Anju said, bowing slightly, "Yuuki Anju. Pleased to meet you, Ms Minami. You may not know this, but my company has a small share of yours."

"Oh, is that so?" Kotori replied, looping an arm around Umi's. "I look forward to working with you."

"Erena, you can leave us alone for a while, it will be nothing but boring business talk," Anju said over her shoulder to her bodyguard, who asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, help yourself to the buffet and open bar, I will call if there's anything."

The bodyguard nodded, but didn't leave without piercing Umi with one last scanning look.

"If it's only business talk, may I be excused?" Umi asked, directing the question more at Kotori than at Anju.

Her fiancée reluctantly nodded, touching her shoulder. "It won't take long." She hugged her, whispering in her ear, "When you're back, I want one more dance."

Umi chuckled, agreeing with a nod. "If there's anything, you can call me too."

"Thanks, Umi."

Once Umi let go of the embrace, she nodded to Anju with a dimmed smile before turning to leave.

Glancing behind her, she saw Kotori and Anju getting into business mode as they most likely talked about things Umi had no idea of. She thought about numbing her head with liquor at the open bar when someone tipped her shoulder, and it took all of her willpower to act against her instinct and keep calm. If that had happened during a mission, she would have long grabbed the stranger's hand and pulled their arm out of its socket.

Umi came face to face with Anju's bodyguard.

"Erena, wasn't it?" Umi attempted to be polite, but was met with a dark glare.

"Can I have a word with you?" Erena said, sounding grim. "In private."

Umi had no reason to decline and she also wanted to know where the hostility came from when she had never met that woman before. "Sure."

They left the main hall, going into a little side room where spare chairs and tables were stacked.

"I'll be frank with you," Erena began, pulling at the sleeves of her suit. "I don't like you."

"That much I gathered," Umi said, unaffected. "May I know why?"

Erena narrowed her eyes at her. "Anju told me a lot about you. In fact, all she ever talks about is you. I know what you have done and your actions make you beneath trash to me."

Alarmed, Umi's eyes flitted to the large windows before she replied in a calm tone, "And you are referring to...?"

"I know all about you," Erena said, moving closer. "A person like you...just scum with no moral and no conscience."

How did Erena find out? How much did she know? Umi shifted her stance, bracing herself.

"You..." Erena hissed, roughly grabbing Umi's collar and pulling at it. "You were using Anju, and when she needed you the most, you left her."

Umi blinked. "Hah?"

"Don't act stupid," Erena shook her violently, "Anju told me of your past together. You two used to be dating, but then her father died and you left her. She still doesn't stop talking about you. And I'm tired of hearing her voice saying your name when I've been by her side ever since."

It took her a few seconds to process it, but when the words sank in, Umi realized that Erena had no idea about her job at all. She was talking about a completely different side of her past.

Finally reacting, Umi swiftly brought her knee to Erena's gut, causing the other to let go and stumble backwards. Coughing, Erena held her stomach and bent over in pain.

"I'm sorry if you've been caught up in business that has nothing to do with you," Umi said, fixing her collar and tie. "But I don't think it's fair to blame me for your unrequited feelings."

"Shut up," Erena wheezed, straightening herself with a pained grimace. "This is not about me. You used Anju for her money, just like you are using Minami right now."

"You couldn't be more wrong." Umi closed one button of her suit. "I liked her. But we didn't match. Her father's death was tragic and it revealed her true character, so I did a favor for us both and set her free."

"You damn liar!" Erena took a swing at Umi, but was easily dodged. When she tried to kick her, Umi caught her leg by the ankle and twisted it around, having her lying on the ground in seconds.

"That is enough."

Erena looked up from the ground, panting. "Anju?"

Anju was expressionless when she ordered, "You can leave now."

"But -"

"You went behind my back to solve a problem that isn't even yours," Anju said, toneless. "Please leave."

Getting up to her feet with difficulty, Erena directed her gaze at the ground when she muttered, "Yes." She gave Umi a fleeting look filled with hatred before she limped out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Anju turned to Umi, seeing red marks on her throat. "I didn't know Erena held such feelings."

"I'm okay," Umi said, feeling more uncomfortable in Anju's presence than in Erena's. "She meant well."

"Well, she was foolish," Anju shook her head, reaching inside her handbag, "as if I'm going to let someone take my revenge."

_Click._

The opening of a small handgun was facing Umi when she blinked again.

"Erena wasn't completely wrong," Anju whispered, taking one step closer with her gun steadily pointed at Umi's head. "You used me. And at first, I thought it was for money too, but then things became clearer when I started digging."

Of all the scenarios, this wasn't one Umi had calculated on. She gritted her teeth, eyes flickering to the door in hopes that someone would barge in. But it remained eerily quiet in the room, no noise from the outside coming through.

"You better keep your eyes on me," Anju said with a hollow giggle. "I made sure that no one's going to interrupt us."

Umi felt something in her stomach tighten. Both knew she was clearly at a disadvantage. She was unarmed and stuck in a formal suit that clung to her like a second skin which restricted her movements and made her slower. Losing the suit jacket would increase her chances of fighting back, but even the twitch of a finger could set Anju off. 

"It's going to be just you and me, Umi. Like before. Before you betrayed me, before I found out what was really going on." Anju began pointing her gun to lower regions as if she couldn't decide where to shoot first. She bit her lip, aiming at Umi's heart. "Today I'm going to end the curse you put on me. Because when we started dating, people in my surroundings suddenly died in various ways...like my aunt who overdosed...or a business partner who drowned in his bath..."

This time, Umi was sure that Anju was closer to the truth than Erena had ever been. She cursed silently, hoping her trembling hands went unnoticed.

"Those were quite unfortunate accidents," Umi said, lowering her voice. "I'm sorry to hear about your loss."

"Liar!" Anju screamed, her pointer finger scratching at the trigger of her gun, "I don't know who's working with you, but all those people died after I introduced them to you! And I was blind for so long because I was grieving my father's death...but once I recovered, everything became clear."

She took a step closer, the gun in her hand shaking. "The night my father died...was the only night you spent at my place. You had the perfect alibi."

Umi ground her teeth. Indeed, Anju's father – Yuuki Sora – had not died in a yacht accident. He had not been drunk and had not slipped off his boat as the public had been informed. He had been taken care of by Maki, who then had disposed his body in the sea, purposely placing evidence that led the investigators to believe that he had too much alcohol on his yacht and then drowned after stumbling over the railing.

"That was the only night I could convince you to stay," Anju whispered, her eyes narrowing in hatred. "The whole time we were dating, you were so cold and distant towards me. And I thought that was just how you were, I admit I even fell for that, thinking that was part of your charm. But seeing you being all lovey-dovey with your fiancée makes me sick."

Umi kept her gaze fixated on the gun when Anju broke out in empty, crazed laughter.

"Do you hate me?" Umi asked quietly. Keeping Anju talking was what kept her from shooting, so Umi had to prolong the conversation for as long as she could until she found the right moment to disarm her.

"If I hate you?" Anju whispered, incredulous. "Do you really have to ask?"

Umi refrained from replying, sensing the breaking point nearing.

"But there's someone I hate even more than you," Anju muttered, now so close to Umi that her gun was pressed against her chest. "And that's myself. For still not being over you. But I will be, once you are gone."

"Killing me won't make you feel better," Umi said, her gaze empathic. "I'm sorry about your loss, but your father...He might have treated you like a goddess, but he treated the rest of the world as his slave. His death released thousands from his tyranny."

Anju's facial features twisted, turning into a grimace of rage. "Don't you dare to talk about him like that!"

Umi felt the gun pressing hard against her chest. If Anju fired now, the bullet would tear straight through her heart. "Anju, he killed your mother," she whispered, boring her eyes into Anju's. "She didn't die at birth. She tried to run away from him when she was pregnant."

"No!" Anju screamed, and in the second she was overwhelmed by anguish, Umi knocked the gun out of her hands and reached for the pressure points on Anju's neck, pressing down hard. Anju gasped and desperately pulled at Umi's hand, but her consciousness faded and her eyes rolled back in her head. She sank to her knees, her body toppled over and hit the ground with a thud. 

Muttering curses beneath her breath, Umi was torn about what to do next. Anju knew too much for Umi to let her go, but at the same time, killing her was impossible because that woman wasn't a bad person. Her death would have no meaning, which would go against Umi's code as a Soldier.

She picked up the gun Anju had used. Small, but would do its job. She glanced at the body on the floor. Should she wake her and try to negotiate an ending both could live with? There was too much at stake on Umi's side, she had too much to lose to mess it up now. No, she couldn't afford to let the truth get out, she needed to find a way to silence Anju without killing her.

But how? Was it still possible for Umi to somehow convince Anju that she was completely unrelated to her father's death? Anju had already discovered the truth, how could Umi twist her own story around it and make her believe lies again? She didn't think she was able to reach Anju with mere words anymore, she had lost her trust the moment she had walked out of her life. 

No, she needed to get out of this risky place first and take Anju with her so she could plan her next step in a safer setting. Leaving the other woman behind was no option. With the power and influence Anju possessed, a single accusation against Umi would lead to a nationwide hunt for her head. She would lose everything within a day if Anju made her charges public, if she demanded a revision of her father's death case by naming Umi as a murder suspect. 

Umi couldn't allow that to happen, she couldn't allow her life to fall apart now that it had reached a point of normality. She was going to get married to her love in a month, she was finally happy, she had everything she had never dared to dream of, and now everything was about to shatter because of one mistake in the past?

No, she could absolutely not allow that to happen. It would break her. It would break her if Kotori found out about her real job, it would destroy her if Kotori started hating her, thinking she had been led on by a murderer. Umi needed to leave now, needed to pick up Anju and flee, needed to get rid of the gun -

"Umi..."

Time stood still for her when she looked up in slow-motion, her eyes meeting Kotori's horrified ones. Suddenly, the gun in her hand had the weight of a ton, burning her with its burden.

"No...Kotori, no," Umi's voice cracked, letting the gun fall and raising her empty hands to show she was harmless, "please don't..."

"Ms Minami, you can't go in there!" a deep voice shouted behind Kotori.

Storming into the room, two male bodyguards were looking for Kotori when they saw the scene in front of them. Anju on the ground, Umi standing above her, and a gun lying to her feet. 

"What's going on," Erena's voice came from behind, and she pushed her colleagues aside. She balked when she took in the sight in front of her. 

"Let me explain," Umi said, raising her hands defensively, but her words met deaf ears.

"You bastard!" Erena yelled with a furious expression, reaching inside her suit for her gun. But Umi was faster; she charged at Erena and rammed into her wounded stomach with her shoulder, heaving her up into the air and throwing her on top of the other two bodyguards, who were instantly knocked down by the weight.

"Umi!" Kotori cried out, scared. Umi pulled her away from the door, shutting it and locking them in.

Erena had passed out from the pain. Pushing her body off themselves and scrambling to their feet, the two male bodyguards reached for their own guns but faltered when Kotori screamed in fear. But that one second of hesitation was enough; with a calculated kick, Umi knocked the gun out of the first bodyguard's hands and sent it flying against the second one's eye. His pained yell was enough to throw off his colleague, who failed to block Umi's second high kick, getting knocked out cold when the hard heel of her shoe crushed his nose.

The half-blind bodyguard raised one hand in defeat, the other hand holding his bleeding eyes. "Please, spare me, I hate my job..."

Umi put him to sleep by punching three pressure points on his chest. His unconscious body sank to the floor.

Someone pounded on the door from the other side, rattling the door handle. "Hey! Hey, what's going on! Open up, this is the security! Someone get me a key for this door!"

Four unconscious bodies on the floor, two of them bleeding like they had been shot in the head. The situation was hopeless, Umi had no choice. As much as it killed her to have to make that decision, it was the only solution. She turned to Kotori, who was shaking, her eyes watering with tears. "Umi..."

"I'm so sorry," Umi whispered, feeling her own eyes burning. But she couldn't allow herself to cry now, she had little to no time left. The noise behind the door increased as more people approached.

"Open up! What is going on? We saw a fight breaking out! If you don't open the door right now, we're going to break it down!"

"I'm so sorry," Umi repeated, wiping at her eyes as she walked towards Kotori, reaching out to her but retracting her hands again, unsure if her touch was still welcome. "I'm so sorry..."

Confusion, shock, fear and hurt all mixed together in one expression on Kotori's face that was hard for Umi to look at, knowing that she was the one who had caused this.

"Why...I don't understand..."

“Kotori, I’m…” Umi swallowed, her voice failing her. “I’m not working for an environmental organization…I’m not working a conventional job at all.”

“What – Umi,” Kotori began sobbing, “I don’t understand, what are you talking about, all those meetings…”

“I,” Umi felt her heart break at seeing the hurt in Kotori’s eyes, “listen, when Anju is going to wake up, don’t believe anything she says.”

“U-Umi?”

“Please!” Umi grabbed Kotori’s hands, holding them up between them, “Everytime I told you I love was the truth, please don’t forget that. I didn’t lie once about how I felt about you.”

“We’re coming in!” Something heavy crashed against the door, but it didn’t give in. “Again!” The door rattled heavily, but remained intact. “Again!”

“I don’t understand at all, why are you doing this,” Kotori cried, holding onto Umi for dear life, “we can explain everything, we can talk this out!”

“It’s too late,” Umi shook her head, “I’m so sorry, Kotori, there are so many things you deserve to know and so many things I want to tell you. I don’t want you to believe things that aren’t true, so you can’t listen to Anju! The only truth she will tell you is that I’m…that I’m responsible for her father’s death.”

Too shocked to react, Kotori even forgot to cry.

“This damn door…Again!” The door hinges started creaking with every blow.

“Don’t hate me, please,” Umi whispered, brushing away Kotori’s tears with her thumb. “I hope I can see you one day again to explain everything, to make you understand why I did what I did…but I can’t stay anymore. Goodbye, Kotori.”

Umi retracted her hands when suddenly Kotori tightly grabbed onto them, not letting her go.

"K-Kotori?"

Kotori shook her head, blinking away her tears. "Let me come with you! Please!" She pulled at Umi's arm.

"No!" Umi immediately shouted, "No, I can't let you do that. I won't let you. I can't provide for your safety if you come with me! And you will lose everything, your work, your family, your life..."

"Then stay," Kotori sobbed, "I will protect you no matter what, I can pay any sum they want to release you, I can use all my mother's connections to get you out of this safely!"

Umi could feel her resolve wavering. A lifetime of prison seemed to be worth the five more minutes with Kotori.

"What's with this damn door! Is there really no spare key for it?" Something heavy crashed against the door again, startling Umi awake from her short trance.

"Kotori..." Umi shook her head to clear her mind. She gazed softly into Kotori's eyes. "I know I can count on you to save me. But I can't allow myself to be caught yet, I still have something to finish that requires me to move freely. Even if you can clear my charges, you can't clear my name and I'll only drag you down for the rest of your life. So please, let me go."

Eyes glistening with tears, Kotori swallowed and inhaled deeply. "Are you running for my sake? Or is there really something else that needs you?"

Umi managed a sad smile. "I am still needed, my job isn't done yet."

Kotori shakily exhaled. She slowly nodded. "Then go. But promise me to come back!"

"I- I can't promise that," Umi said with a pained grimace, "I'll be a wanted criminal from now on. I can't drag you further into this. I already caused enough damage to your name."

"I don't care," Kotori breathed, grabbing her suit to pull her closer. "You still owe me a dance..."

And she leaned in to kiss Umi. Their kiss was messy, hurried, too desperate to offer comfort and warmth, yet burning them up with passion all the same. It tasted salty like their tears and bittersweet like their love. It felt final; it broke their hearts the same way it healed them.

_Crash._

Kotori and Umi jumped apart. A large hole had been bashed in in the middle of the door, and faces looked through it, yelling, "Who is there? Ms Minami? Are you alright? Hold on, we're coming!"

No words were needed anymore. Kotori hugged Umi one more time before she let go, suppressing a sob when she watched Umi running to the windows, ripping them wide open and jumping out of them. She disappeared into the darkness, the sound of her running footsteps becoming fainter until it couldn't be heard anymore.

The door hinges came unloose after one more blow and the door crashed down, almost falling onto Erena's feet.

"Ms Minami, are you al..." The security guards gaped at the bodies on the floor. "Are they...?"

"No," Kotori shook her head, drying her tears with the back of her hand. "They are unconscious."

"I saw Sonoda knocking them out before she locked the door," one of the security men muttered, hesitant about accusing Kotori's fiancée in front of her.

"Me too," another one mumbled.

Kotori remained silent, neither wanting to lie nor make it worse for Umi.

"Urgh," one of the bodies on the floor stirred. Erena slowly sat up, holding her stomach and groaning in pain. The security men rushed to her and helped her up.

"Sonoda Umi," she growled, coughing. "I'm going to get you into jail if it's the last thing I do, just you wait..."


	2. Start The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi is on the run from the police. But that's the least of her problems.

## \-------------------------  
START THE GAME  
\-------------------------

Having just finished a job, Eli checked the time on her phone to calculate how long she had needed for today's mission. Less than ten minutes she noted with satisfaction. The target had been sleeping in his apartment, which had made things easier for her. And just as her team of analysts had predicted, he had only set up weak security measures around his place.

She wanted to place her phone away when she saw an incoming call from Umi. Frowning because Umi rarely called her, especially not when she knew she was on a job, Eli accepted the call despite not having left the target's apartment. It had to be an emergency for Umi to call her now.

"Eli, I messed up," was the first thing Umi said when Eli picked up. "I messed up, I ruined everything, it's over-"

"Whoa, Umi, calm down," Eli pressed her phone against her ear, feeling Umi's distress affecting her too. "What happened?"

"I – I got found out, all because I messed up -"

"What?" Eli almost shouted. "So Kotori knows...?"

"Yes," Umi choked out, "yes, they all know now. Anju came to the gala to kill me, she realized that I had only gotten close to her because of her connections."

"No," Eli whispered, feeling her mind become numb. "She...but we were careful! Made everything seem like accidents instead of our usual style..."

"It's all because I was careless," Umi sounded defeated. "I managed to escape, but I can't go back to Kotori anymore. I can't risk staying there and playing stupid, because once they manage to hold me down for assault, Anju will seize the chance and ask for a revision of her father's case so she can add murder to my charges. Her influence will be enough to get me into jail even without evidence."

Eli loudly cursed, pulling at her hair. "So what now? Where are you?"

"I'm heading to our headquarters. That's all I can think of right now, I need to be in safety first before I can plan my next step."

"You do that," Eli muttered, "I'll be there too as fast as I -"

Struck by a bullet in her left shoulder, Eli's arm fell slack to her side and her phone slipped through her fingers, its screen splinting at the hard contact with the ground. "Wha-"

Another bullet barely missed her, grazing her cheek and leaving behind a bleeding cut. Eli let herself drop to the floor and roll behind a couch, suppressing a pained groan when her bullet wound made the slightest movement a torture. Using her good arm to retrieve her gun, she unlocked it and held it ready, holding her breath so she could hear where the enemy stood.

She had been careless. Distracted by Umi's call, she hadn't seen the intruder coming. Judging from his poor aiming skills, he wasn't a bodyguard or anyone trained in combat. Most likely just an acquaintance who had the misfortune to run into Eli during one of her jobs. Misfortune because seconds later, he was dead before his body touched the ground, pierced by a bullet between his wide eyes.

Eli cursed when she slowly stood up from behind the couch, seeing the blood of her shoulder wound seeping into her clothes. She picked up her broken phone and put it into her suit pocket without looking at it, knowing it was completely useless now. She walked past the intruder, pausing when his face looked familiar. That was when she recognized him as the younger brother of her target. He had just turned of age, still a naive boy who wanted to follow his big brother's footsteps, but he was far away from his brother's level of cruelty. His death was meaningless. But Eli didn't have the time to feel sorry for him, maybe things would be different if he hadn't tried to shoot her.

She stepped over his corpse, grabbed a random jacket hanging on the door and draped it over her shoulders, covering her bloody wound this way. As she made her way out of the apartment complex, she kept a hand pressed to her wound beneath the large jacket, faking smiles for people who passed her. They thought it was strange to see a beautiful woman wearing an unfashionable man's jacket, but didn't question her if that was what she needed to keep warm. They greeted her back with a warm smile.

Eli needed to stop the bleeding soon, she needed Maki and Umi, but they were too far away. Maki lived on the other side of the city and the headquarters were located in a high traffic area, she wasn't going to make it in time. The closest place she could go for a treatment would be her own apartment, but she couldn't let Nozomi see her like this.

But what choice did she have? She gritted her teeth as the pain intensified, reminding her to act fast before she passed out.

She saw a cab driver leaning against his car in the parking lot, phoning and smoking, and she stumbled toward him. When he saw her approaching, he tried to wave her off, gesturing to his phone to point out that he was busy.

Eli peeled back her jacket, then her suit, showing him that the left side of her shoulder was completely drained in blood. Aghast, the cab driver slowly lowered his phone and disconnected the call without another word. He nodded to his car.

"Which hospital?" he nervously said once they were inside his car, directing anxious glances at Eli's shoulder that was covered by the jacket again.

"No, no hospital," Eli said through gritted teeth when another wave of pain shot through her arm. "Just drive me down this main street, I will tell you to stop when we get there."

"But-"

"Just do it," Eli hissed.

The driver closed his mouth and started his car.

"And fast," Eli growled when everything moved too slow for her, "please."

"Y-yes."

Eli purposely pressed harder against her wound than necessary so the pain would keep her awake. Despite all her efforts, her vision started getting blurry and she could feel her consciousness fading, her head suddenly too heavy to keep it upright. She just wanted to lean back and let unconsciousness take her away, release her from her pain.

Barely able to keep her hazy eyes open, she almost didn't see the cherry trees they were passing by.

"Stop," she weakly mumbled, "stop by the end of the park."

"A-are you sure?"

Eli didn't reply, hissing in pain when she took her hand off her wound and searched for her wallet. The bills she took out became blood-stained from her hand, and she pushed them into the cab driver's hands. Not waiting for a reaction, knowing she had paid ten times the price, Eli stumbled out of the car and almost fell.

Almost there, she told herself. She couldn't give up now.

Eli staggered to her apartment complex, and without being able to recall how she did it, she found herself standing in front of her apartment door. She fumbled for her keys, but dropped them, and when she bent down to retrieve them, she cried out in pain, losing her balance and crashing against the door.

"Eli?"

Eli blinked, her hazy eyes looking up without seeing anything. It was getting dark. A blurry figure hovered above her. "Eli!"

"Nozo...mi..." escaped her cold lips before she succumbed to darkness.

\------------------------------

When Eli opened her eyes, the first thing she wondered if she was dead. It was pitch dark, her whole body felt numb like it wasn't her own, and her mind was filled with emptiness. Nothing mattered to her in that moment.

She tried moving her limbs, but couldn't even raise her little finger. Tried to speak, but couldn't open her mouth. It was like she was trapped inside her body. The only upside to her situation was the lack of pain. Instead, she felt nothing.

A light went on. Eli couldn't turn her head to look, but knew it had to be Nozomi. She realized she was lying on the living room couch with a blanket draped over her.

"Thank god you're awake," Nozomi whispered, sitting down next to Eli, kissing her forehead. She lifted the blanket to check up on the wound, revealing a neatly bandaged shoulder. "It stopped bleeding."

Eli's lips trembled, but still didn't manage to form a word. She wanted to say 'thank you', wanted to say 'I love you', wanted to say so much more but couldn't.

"Shh, don't," Nozomi said gently, putting a finger on Eli's lips. "You need to rest."

Eli's eyes fluttered. Being this vulnerable was okay if it was in front of Nozomi.

"You almost gave me a heart attack," Nozomi said in a quiet voice, running her fingers through Eli's hair. "When I saw you covered in blood..." She shivered. "I wanted to cry. I wanted to call the ambulance. But you coming home instead of going to the hospital had to mean that you didn't want your wound to be treated there. So I did the best I could."

"No-zo-mi," Eli managed to breathe out, her lips barely moving. "Nozomi..."

"Who did this to you?" Nozomi asked lowly, her gaze falling on Eli's shoulder wound. "It could only be someone absolutely horrible and cruel and heartless...someone who deserves to be shot themselves."

Eli closed her eyes. She didn't know whether the brother of her target had deserved to die. He had acted as everyone in his position would have at seeing the killer of their family member. But she had shot him anyway. Didn't that make her more of a horrible and heartless person?

Seeing the torn look on Eli's face, Nozomi used her thumb to stroke the blonde's eyebrows until they weren't crinkled anymore.

"Everything's alright now," Nozomi smiled, leaning down to kiss the little cut on Eli's cheek. "Everything will be alright." She kissed her behind her ear. "Everything will get better in a week."

Nozomi sat up again, stroking Eli's limp hands. "After all, you worked so hard, it's time to show the fruits of your work."

Eli blinked, thinking she had misheard. "Nozo...mi?"

The right corner of Nozomi's mouth curled up, twisting her warm smile into something Eli had never seen before, something that caused her heart to stand still.

"Everything will get better in a week," Nozomi repeated, "when my plans are in full motion. The plans you helped me fulfill, even if unknowingly."

Eli gaped at her, her mind blank. She couldn't catch up to what was going on. Her innocent girlfriend, who was just an assistant in her day job, who spent her Sundays in the park reading fortunes for curious walkers, who treated everyone so warm and caring - what was she talking about? Eli tried lifting her arms and legs, but only got her fingers and toes to twitch a little.

"You should rest since there is not much you can do right now," Nozomi said, pulling the blanket up to Eli's chin, tucking her in like a child. "The dose I gave you will disable you from moving for another twelve hours." She paused, looking regretfully at Eli, who still tried to struggle.

"I really loved you, Eli," Nozomi whispered, her words causing Eli to stop moving. Eli blinked at her in betrayal, hurt and confusion. "I still do. I was hoping to get you on my side, I thought about cluing you in, but I know you. You would never agree. Your sense of justice is different than mine."

"Ng," Eli let out, unable to pronounce words yet aside from Nozomi's name. She growled lowly. "Nozomi..."

Nozomi traced the healed cut on Eli's cheek with her thumb, her touch feather light. "Thank you, Eli, I won't let your efforts go to waste. You worked so hard on your missions and it's time I finish mine."

"...mi," Eli grunted, becoming desperate. What was going on? What was Nozomi talking about?

Getting up from the couch, Nozomi grabbed something from the nearby coffee table. Eli's eyes widened when she recognized her gun, stained with her dried blood. Nozomi lifted it up against the ceiling light to inspect it. "We both hate pointless bloodshed...but it can't be helped sometimes."

Nozomi glanced at Eli, lowering the gun when she saw the panicked look in her eyes. "Did I scare you? I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention."

She put the gun down on the coffee table again. If Eli could lift her arm, she would be able to reach it.

"...y," Eli breathed, "...why?"

Nozomi's smile turned wistful. "You are not the only one with a painful past, Eli."

Eli stared at her with a torn expression. If her situation wasn't this messed up, there would be no question about how she would try to comfort Nozomi. But now she didn't even know who her lover was anymore.

"In fact, we are more similar than not," Nozomi said, sitting down next to Eli again. "Someone who felt just like me...you were attractive to me in so many ways, your past being one of them."

But that answer was nowhere near satisfactory to Eli, who closed her eyes in frustration. "Why..."

"Why, you ask? But you already know, isn't that why you risk your life everyday?" Nozomi tilted her head like she didn't understand the purpose behind Eli's question. "We both recognized that we live in a dystopia. We both lost people dear to us who weren't meant to be gone so soon. We both were born on the losing side of life and now we're doing anything to win."

Eli stared at Nozomi's pained expression. "Nozomi..."

"I didn't ask to be born," Nozomi whispered, "I didn't ask to live on a planet that doesn't need my existence. I'm irrelevant to the progress of this world and I'm reminded of it every day when people walk past me like I'm invisible. So at least give me a meaning for myself, give me something to live for, give me a chance to make my short time on earth worth the pain."

When her vision of Nozomi got blurry, Eli realized she was crying.

"Don't cry, that was just how I thought in the past," Nozomi muttered, brushing away Eli's tears with her fingers. "Those thoughts were as much of my childhood memories as changing orphanages and begging on the streets. But once I grew up, I changed my perspective. I grew stronger. It's because I was weak that I know how to use strength now."

Nozomi leaned down to kiss away the rest of Eli's tears, letting her lips brush against the blonde's closed eye-lids. "I decided that my existence does matter. I decided that  _I'll_  be the one to change everything around me until it's a place I can live in without regrets. Because if I don't fight for myself, who will?"

Nozomi sat up again, taking one of Eli's slack hands and bringing them to her mouth to kiss her knuckles. "Eli, I'm sorry for not being honest to you from the start. But I planned this for too long to let you stop me now. You were never a calculation in my plans, but I still needed you."

"Nozomi," Eli whispered, regaining feeling in her facial muscles, "I don't...understand...what are you...going to do?" Her words were barely distinguishable.

Nozomi kept Eli's hand pressed against her cheek, giving her a soft, loving look which contrasted her words, "Those corrupt politicians, military generals and business men you killed, I replaced them all. With people I trust. They are waiting for my signal, biding their time."

Eli's fingers twitched, her eyes widened. "But...how..."

"I told you, I planned this for very long," Nozomi said, putting down Eli's hand and stroking her arm. "This mission of mine, it began long before I was old enough to leave the orphanage, long before I took a job as an office assistant. I started working for Mrs Minami for the same reason your friend Umi wanted to get close to Kotori before she fell in love. I guess she couldn't manage to stay unattached the way she had been with Yuuki Anju."

Eli's eyes widened, her lips parted. "H-how...?"

"You think I didn't notice?" Nozomi said in amusement over Eli's shock. "You weren't the only ones who needed connections to people in high society."

She paused, her eyes flitting across Eli's frozen expression.

“I’m sorry, Eli, it’s time,” she whispered. “Circumstances have changed, I need to make my move now.”

“No, wait,” Eli coughed, her arms twitching at her desperate attempt to move, “don’t, we can do this together.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Nozomi said with a regretful smile. “But can you work with me after knowing that my plan might ruin this country? That chaos will be a daily order for the next week? Can you do that?”

When Eli stared at her in shock, unable to reply, Nozomi sighed. “I thought so. I told you I know you, Eli. You can’t act against your conviction. And your conviction is that only few people are the worms in a mostly healthy apple. But what if I told you that the apple is about to rot because no one bothers to cut off the foul half as long as the rest isn’t affected?”

Getting up, Nozomi gave Eli a sad smile. “You probably think it’s stupid not to cut off the foul part if it’s already visible. Then, why is it that the government doesn’t do anything about the rotten parts of our country?” Nozomi glanced at the gun on the coffee table. “They don’t, this is why you felt the need to. Because you realized that the rotten parts may be in the government itself.”

Eli fought to regain feeling in her limbs again, but it was useless, she couldn’t bring them to do more than just twitch helplessly. She looked at Nozomi with a pleading look. “Don’t, our goals are not that different, we can do it without the chaos-”

“But chaos is the natural way to establish a new order,” Nozomi said gently as if she was teaching Eli. “Only chaos can prompt fast change in our society because it’s something that affects everyone and demands a reaction. Chaos is the heart of a revolution.”

Eli couldn’t believe a word she was hearing. Everything that Nozomi was saying sounded so surreal, like she had adapted the character of a stranger. But her expression stayed the same. Gently smiling while saying those unbelievable things.

“I am so sorry for doing this to you,” Nozomi whispered, a look of regret flitting over her face. “But this is where our paths separate. I would have liked to go with you together until the end, but I know I can’t convince you to walk my path and you can’t bring me to walk yours.”

Eli stared up at Nozomi with a desperate look. “Where…are you going?”

Nozomi’s expression changed into something almost neutral when she replied, “To finish my own mission.” She bent down to kiss Eli’s forehead, whispering against her skin, “I promise to not let your work go to waste. I will restore equality and harmony in our country again. Even if it might come with chaos or destruction.”

“Don’t,” Eli muttered, weak against Nozomi’s touch, craving more while hating herself to be led by emotions. “Don’t do it. All those innocent people…”

“Don’t sympathize with those who choose to stay innocent through ignorance,” Nozomi whispered, “they are responsible too. Trust me, Eli, everything will get better in a week, when everything is over.”

“Nozomi…”

“It will be okay,” Nozomi said quietly, getting up. “Thank you for everything. I’ll see you again when it’s over. If you can forgive me by then, maybe we can still have a life together. Goodbye, Eli.”

Shooting a sad look over her shoulder, Nozomi left the living room, heading to the front door. When Eli heard the door falling shut, she couldn't hold it in anymore, letting out a loud and long cry of agony before it faded into quiet sobbing.

All this time, she had worried about hiding her secret life from Nozomi, never considering that Nozomi might have a secret of her own. Being betrayed by someone she trusted and loved hurt a thousand times more than the bullet wound in her shoulder ever could because it destroyed her most vulnerable organ – her heart.

* * *

 

"Eli!"

"Eli, wake up!"

"Are you sure you felt her pulse? She's not responding!"

"She's alive, I know she is, just keep trying!"

Maki cupped Eli's cheeks with her hands, lightly shaking her head. "Eli, please..."

"She's moving!" Umi grabbed Eli's hand that had twitched. "Eli, it's us, are you awake?"

Eli's eye-lids slowly fluttered open, revealing hazy blue eyes looking up at them in confusion. "Ma...ki? U...mi?"

"Yes, it's us," Maki breathed in relief, sinking to her knees. "We thought you were dead."

"I'm so sorry," Umi shook her head, looking guilty and angry at herself. "I shouldn't have called you during a job. It's my fault you were distracted."

"Umi," Eli mumbled, her mind still foggy. Bits of memory seeped back into her head until she remembered the phone call. Her eyes widened, staring at Umi, who was still in her formal suit that she had worn to the gala. "Umi... you shouldn't be here-"

Umi and Maki pushed Eli back down on the couch when she tried to sit up.

"You are more important right now," Umi said, "I'm going to be fine. Right now I'm just wanted by the police, not the intelligence. By the time they are here, I'm gone again."

Eli turned her gaze to Maki. "She's downplaying her situation, isn't she?"

"Well," Maki sighed, not one to lie, "in the time you've been out, Umi's status from 'violent offender' was extended to 'suspect in a possible murder case' involving Yuuki Sora, and now she's nationally searched for because his death is still too high profile to treat it like a regular case. If Anju can convince the public in the next few days that her father's death was a murder and that he was just one of many targets, then Umi will have the intelligence after her too."

"No," Eli ground her teeth, "why is everything going to hell..."

"Isn't that where we're going to land anyway?" Maki muttered, letting herself fall down on a single couch.

"Only according to a few religions," Umi replied. "But I guess the idea of hell loses its touch when we've already faced the reality of this world."

"That's one uplifting thought, thank you," Maki said in a sarcastic tone. She turned to Eli. "How long do you think you need to recover?"

Eli noticed that she could lift her arms again, but her legs still didn't respond to the commands of her brain. She glanced at her shoulder, noticing that the bandage was clean. "Did you change my bandage?"

"No, that must be Nozomi's doing," Maki said, sitting up in her seat. "That reminds me, where is she? What did she say when she saw you like that? She must have been shocked, I can't imagine her leaving your side for one second. Did she go out to get medicine?"

Maki's questions felt like punches straight to Eli's stomach, and they left her breathless. She let out a wince and held her forehead, begging her mind to stop replaying those painful memories of Nozomi leaving her.

"Eli?" Umi walked closer, worried. And when she saw Eli's miserable expression, she got alarmed. "Eli! Where's Nozomi, did something happen to her?"

Eli shook her head, unable to speak, her face twisted in a grimace of pain.

"What's going on," Maki said in distress, standing up.

"Nozomi, she," Eli choked out, "she knew everything all along."

It was silent for a few seconds, then Umi and Maki exclaimed at the same time, "What?"

"She knew?" Maki repeated, shaking her head when she didn't understand. "What do you mean, she knew? She knew our real work?"

Eli weakly tilted her head up to indicate a nod.

"But why – but how," Maki stuttered, grabbing her head. "I don't get it, I just don't get it!"

"Maki, calm down, you're not helping Eli like this," Umi said, sitting down next to Eli and holding her shaking hand. "Eli, first tell us if we have to worry about Nozomi's safety."

"No, she," Eli suppressed a sob, "she used me. She used us all."

Umi shared a helpless look with Maki. They had never witnessed Eli losing her cool before. Disciplined and calm, the blonde always kept a hard front and stayed emotionally steady. But none of that applied to her in this moment.

"Eli, listen, this is what we're going to do," Umi explained, squeezing Eli's hand to soothe her, "we're going to give you sleeping pills and let you rest for a few hours. Maki will treat your wound and I will plan our next step. Once you wake up and feel like it, you can tell us what happened with Nozomi."

"No, it can't wait," Eli said, trying to get up, but Umi pushed her back down, causing Eli to hiss in pain when she landed on her wounded shoulder.

"You're no use to us in this state," Maki said, crossing her arms. "Even if the end of the world is tomorrow, you need to sleep first. We'll have enough time to talk about the rest." She disappeared into the kitchen.

"But-"

Umi pushed two pills into Eli's mouth and clamped both her lips and nose shut. "You know the deal."

Eli was too weak to struggle against her friend, so she quickly swallowed the pills and coughed when Umi let go.

"Umi," Maki called, returning from the kitchen with a water bottle. She threw it to Umi, who caught it with her left hand.

"It's alright, Eli, we're here for you now," Umi murmured, uncapping the bottle and offering water to Eli, who greedily drank half of the bottle.

The effect of the sleeping pills didn't wait, instantly enveloping Eli in a warm cocoon of drowsiness and numbness. She had already been exhausted to begin with, but with the pills combined, she passed out in seconds.

"I wonder what happened," Maki muttered, pacing up and down the living room. "I really expected Nozomi to sleep by her side, holding her hand. Where is she now?"

Umi moved over to the single couch to sit down. She leaned back with a tired sigh. "I guess we will have to wait until we have an answer."

"But honestly," Maki threw up her hands in frustration, "what the hell is going on? First your cover got blown, now hers too. Am I next?"

Umi massaged her temple, muttering, "It's all my fault. I was careless and then I dragged Eli down with me. Maybe you really should leave before something happens to you too."

Maki stopped pacing. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Maki?"

"We are Soldiers," Maki said, placing her fist over heart and pounding her chest once. "We're a team; you, Eli and me. And we're going to stay that way, no matter what happens. So stop saying stupid things, it doesn't fit you."

Umi's expression softened. "Thank you."

Maki waved her off, turning her back to her. "As if I'm going to abandon you. After all you two did for me."

Somehow, seeing Maki from behind with her head lowered and fists clenched transported Umi back into the past, into an old memory that was fuzzy around the edges and had holes, but still told a complete story. Umi closed her eyes, seeing pictures of a malnourished girl with short red hair standing there with her head lowered, fists clenched, wordlessly bearing the loud curses that rained down on her, caused by a man twice as large as the girl. But the lack of reaction made the man furious, and he raised his hand, ready to inflict bodily harm to get some reaction. He was stopped when a small arm looped around his throat from behind and tried to choke him.

The man managed to pull the arms away from his throat, finding himself holding up a tiny blonde girl who struggled against his grip, kicking against air in her attempt to hit him. He let out a scoffing grunt and grabbed her throat, his one hand large enough to completely close itself around the little girl's neck. She started choking, her struggling ceased, and just a few seconds longer, she would have passed out and died. But she got dropped to the ground when the man suddenly fell over, blood dripping out from a gash on the back of his head.

A blue-haired girl holding a metal pipe stood behind him, heavily breathing, and when she realized what she had done, she dropped the weapon and started crying.

The red-haired girl still hadn't understood what happened. She started crying too.

But the blonde girl smiled, even when the red marks on her throat and arms hadn't faded. She smiled even though she looked just as bony and underfed as the red-haired girl.

The blonde girl took the blue-haired girl's hand and offered her other free hand to the red-haired girl. "Come with us," she said, still smiling though it just showed how hollow her cheeks were. "You are safe now. You are one of us now."

Umi opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, seeing the healthy woman that the red-haired girl had become. She smiled. "You were always one of us."

"Hm?" Maki hadn't heard her, busy with cleaning Eli's wound and spraying disinfectant around it. "Did you say something?"

Umi shook her head. "Nothing."

* * *

 

"She said that?" Maki asked incredulously. "What does that even mean, destroy the country with utter chaos first?"

"I don't know," Eli muttered, stretching and flexing her limbs now that she had regained control of them.

When she had woken up to the sight of her friends sitting by her side and worriedly watching her, the feeling of misery and helplessness had faded into the background, replaced by a new surge of strength and confidence. She wasn't alone. She was needed. She couldn't waste one more second pitying her own fate.

So pushing aside her need to cry and locking up her emotions for the time being, she told Umi and Maki everything that had happened, told them in detail how Nozomi revealed her true self and spoke of her plans to bring chaos to the country.

"The only thing that comes to my mind is a civil war," Umi muttered. "That would be one way for a country to descend into utter chaos."

"Impossible," Maki shook her head. "Let's not get crazy here, Nozomi can't possibly instigate something so huge."

Eli didn't want to believe this theory either, but she also wasn't able to completely dismiss it. Her gut told her that Nozomi might be more powerful than she had let on. "Let's say she can. How does she do that?"

"What? We're seriously considering this?" Maki asked in disbelief.

"Yes, because it's not as absurd as it sounds," Umi answered calmly. "All Nozomi needs to do is push the right domino stone to let the entire nation collapse. All she needs is to find the linchpin that keeps our country stable."

Maki opened and closed her mouth, unable to respond. Eli seemed less shocked.

"Maki, we need you to work with us on this," the blonde said, "we need a third clever brain."

"I know it's beyond what we usually do," Umi continued, looking grim. "But we have no choice. We are the only ones who know Nozomi's plans. And we can't let her succeed, her plans will cause more damage than it can restore peace."

"How do we even know if that's Nozomi's real plan?" Maki countered. "Maybe she's actually crazy and said some crazy stuff that Eli soaked up because she was out of it."

Eli abruptly stood up but almost fell over when her legs couldn't hold her weight, still numb from the drugs that Nozomi had given her. Umi rushed to her side and helped Eli to sit down on the couch again. "Eli, don't."

"You don't think I would have wanted this to be a nightmare too?" Eli shouted angrily. "I don't want to believe that Nozomi betrayed me either. I don't want to believe anything that happened yesterday night. It's a good thing I couldn't move or I would have used my gun on myself."

"Eli, calm down," Umi muttered. She turned to Maki. "I know there's little evidence to believe what Nozomi is truly planning. But we can't ignore it either."

"I know we can't," Maki pulled at her hair, "but do  _we_  have to be the ones to stop her? We're assassins, not detectives. We're not cut out for this, now less than ever with one of us being nationally hunted and the other injured."

"Then go home," Eli said, giving Maki a challenging look. "Go back to your home that's safe for now. But once chaos breaks out, not even you can protect Nico from harm. You know that privileged people like her will be one of the first targets."

Maki visibly tensed. She clenched her fist. "Do you really believe Nozomi is capable of causing that? Chaos?"

Eli's expression remained hard. "I know she is."

Maki inhaled sharply and covered her eyes with the palm of her hand. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to believe it. Truth is, I've never been able to tell what she's thinking and yet she could always tell my thoughts. Sometimes her knowing smile really freaked me out. But now I guess I know why she always looked at me like she knew every secret of mine."

Umi started pacing up and down the living room. "She fooled us all. But we're not going to let her win. We know her goal, so we only need to trace back her plan to the first step and intercept her there."

"But how?" Maki ran a hand through her hair, frustrated because she had the feeling they were fishing for an answer with a net made of two strings.

"We first need to define chaos," Umi said, standing still. "What do you think of when you hear that term?"

Maki crossed her arms. "Protests against the government."

"Why?"

"People are unsatisfied," she answered with a shrug. "They take to the street and demonstrate for a better government, bringing the entire infrastructure to a standstill. Buildings are closed, people don't go to work, you know the deal."

"But that alone isn't enough to cause chaos nationwide," Eli interjected. "Demonstrations are normal."

"She's right, demonstrations are normal. Unless..." Umi trailed off and Maki finished, "Unless it's a nationwide riot where everyone abandons their work. Then our country won't last a week before it breaks down. It's already debt-ridden as it is."

"And this is where our calculations start," Umi said, snapping with her fingers. She picked up a bag on the ground next to the coffee table and pulled out a tablet, which she had brought from the headquarters. She started typing on it. "If Nozomi wants chaos, she would need something that affects everyone in this country. But what kind of crisis could prompt everyone to revolt? When they feel like they have nothing to lose?"

Eli pressed two fingers against her temple. "A financial crisis. When they don't get paid anymore because the banks are no longer liquid."

"But how is it possible for Nozomi alone to cause a national financial crisis?" Maki asked skeptically.

"I told you she isn't alone," Eli muttered. "Thanks to us, she has a network inside the government and outside in the economy now."

"So she wants to destroy the government from inside out?"

"No, it would be less unpredictable if that was the case," Eli said, remembering Nozomi's words. "She doesn't think that only few corrupt people are at fault for the injustice in our country. It's the ignorant masses. And she wants to punish them too, make them become aware of their ignorance. A national financial crisis would be one way to stir the masses."

Umi looked up from her tablet. "I did some research on all the people we eliminated over the last few months. Their replacements all have one thing in common: they grew up with no family."

Eli quickly turned her head to Umi. "Orphans?"

Umi glanced down at the screen, scrolling through pages of data. "Not all. Some lost their parents when they were teenagers but were never taken in by foster care."

"I don't get it," Maki muttered, "these kids usually have little chances of education. How could they fill those high-ranked positions without arising suspicion?"

"Well, according to the data base, they all received education at well-known institutions," Umi said thoughtfully, frowning when the resume of every single one sounded similar. "Graduated high school with honors, got into prestigious university on scholarship, scholarship was extended for master studies and dissertation...they all follow a strict pattern." She turned the screen off, looking up. "The data is fake."

Maki and Eli stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you telling me that there are dozens of government officials who have no idea what they're doing and no one noticed yet?" Eli asked.

"Why are you surprised?" Maki muttered, putting a hand over her eyes. "Great. Fantastic."

Umi responded with a weak smile. "At least they do no harm unlike their predecessors."

Eli raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking her how that was a good thing. Umi shrugged. "It could have been worse."

"Guys," Maki snapped with her fingers to get her friends' attention back, "what do we do now? We still have no idea where Nozomi is going to strike next. A national crisis can be triggered in many ways, how do we know where to start looking first?"

"By observing our country's weak points," Umi replied. "What do we depend on the most to secure a stable economy?"

"Well, we live on an island with little resources, so we depend a lot on import. And we sell most of our stuff to foreign countries, so we depend a lot on export sales too," Maki answered matter-of-factly. "Where are you going with this, it's not like Nozomi can stop the import-export business no matter how many government officials she has under control."

Eli paled. "The ports..."

Umi nodded, her expression grim. "That's it. That's our linchpin."

Maki stared between them. "Don't tell me...it's impossible. She can't block the big ports, she would need a naval blockade to pull that off, she would need -"

"The military," Umi finished. "One of our jobs last month was to take out the commander-in-chief of the Navy because he tolerated and even instigated abuse against women in the army. If he has been replaced by one of Nozomi's puppets, of which I'm sure, then -"

"But his orders still need the government's approval," Maki interrupted. "Who would accept a naval blockade in front of their own coasts?"

"You seem to have forgotten the people we eliminated," Eli sighed, rubbing her temple. "Nozomi really thought of everything...now that I think about it, it's her who introduced our targets to us during the Minami Group events. She directly influenced us."

"But what if..." Umi suddenly spoke up, pausing because her own thought terrified her. "What if there was another way to instigate chaos..."

"Umi?"

"All Nozomi would need is one battleship," Umi whispered, looking up with wide eyes. "If they infringe upon Chinese waters..."

"Hold the thought," Maki hissed, looking scared as well. "We don't know if Nozomi would go so far as start a world war."

Eli didn't like where this was going either. "It's no use to keep speculating. We need to do something."

Umi stood up, nodding, though her expression was still haunted by scenarios she didn't want to think of. "We're starting with a visit to the naval base in Tokyo Bay." She turned to Eli, giving her shoulder wound a worried look. "Can you move?"

"Of course I can," Eli instantly replied with a determined look.

Maki walked over to her and pushed against her shoulder, receiving a pained yell in response.

"What the hell?" Eli hissed, afraid that her wound would start bleeding again. But the bandage remained clean.

"In this state, you're only going to get all of us in danger," Maki said bluntly. "I bet you can't even run right now."

"But what do you expect me to do?" Eli asked in frustration. "Just sit here and watch TV while you risk your life out there? I can't sit still now what with everything that happened."

Maki turned to Umi. "Being a babysitter to a grown woman wasn't in our job description. Umi, talk some sense into her, you know we can't afford to drag her injured ass with us."

Umi rubbed her temple, closing her eyes with a sigh. "Eli, maybe you can just sit this one out."

"No way in hell." Eli gestured to her wound. "I had injuries far worse than this. And I still carried on my missions. Why should it be any different now? Don't you guys understand that this has become my case the second Nozomi walked out on me?"

"We get what you're feeling," Maki countered, "but this isn't only risky anymore, it's downright stupid to let you come along."

"Yeah, well, stupid seems to fit me if I can't even tell that my girlfriend has been using me the whole time!" Eli shouted, angry and exasperated. "Everything was just a game to her. She must have had her fun when she read my fortune, saying things she already knew about me."

"Eli..."

"So please," Eli whispered, her weak voice a stark contrast to her outburst, "don't leave me here alone with my thoughts. Don't give me a chance to start hating myself. I need to keep my mind off it or I'll be even more useless once you're back."

After seeing the tortured look on their friend's face, Umi and Maki shared a look.

"Fine," Maki muttered. "Let's go. But don't drop dead on us."

Eli closed her eyes in relief. "I promise I won't die until this is solved."

* * *

 

Even with three guns pointed at his head, his smile didn't waver, and he chuckled. "Can I offer you something to drink? You seem stressed. I have some fine bourbon here."

"Don't move," Maki said through gritted teeth. "Where's Nozomi?"

The fake commander-in-chief folded his hands on the desk. "I suggest you give up. The revolution has already begun, General Tojo is unstoppable now."

"General Tojo?" Umi muttered.

"Revolution? What revolution," Eli demanded to know, taking a step closer to him with her gun steadily pointed at his head. He looked unfazed.

"Killing me won't change anything," he said, taking off his uniform hat. "You and I know very well that I am just a fake. I have already served General Tojo to the best of my abilities and I would die for her cause. Go ahead, kill me."

Eli ground her teeth, her fingers itching to pull the trigger.

"Eli," Umi muttered, reminding her to stay calm. Then, turning to the fake commander, she said, "You seem to misunderstand us. We're not here to stop General Tojo." And she lowered her gun, putting it back into its holster.

Her friends shot her questioning looks, but she didn't react to them, keeping her determined gaze focused on the commander, who eyed her with surprise.

"In fact, we are more similar than not. We too wish to change our country for the better. We even dirtied our hands for our mission. We killed important people we deemed as dangerous to our society."

The man leaned back in his seat, his eyes wide. "Don't tell me...you are the ones who call themselves Soldiers? I didn't know they truly existed..."

"Yes, we do exist," Umi glanced at Maki and Eli, wordlessly telling them to put their guns down. They followed her silent order with reluctance, keeping a suspicious gaze on the fake commander.

"We actually helped General Tojo to eliminate the man whose position you took," Umi explained. "You're sitting in his seat where he died. Air embolism if I remember correctly, Maki's preferred style."

"It's clean," Maki muttered, referring to the bloody mess Eli and Umi usually caused with their guns.

"He died because a filthy man like him should not be in this powerful position. He died because he was the enemy of our mission," Umi said lowly, making sure to keep direct eye contact with the attentively listening man. "Our mission is the same as yours and General Tojo's. To restore harmony and balance in our country."

The man scanned her expression. "Then why did you barge in with your guns, asking where the General is?"

"Because we needed to test your loyalty," Umi said without blinking, and Maki and Eli suppressed the urge to look at her, keeping their own expression straight. "You might be dead now if you had told us everything you knew the moment we threatened you. But now I can be sure that we are on the same side, that we all would die for our mission. We underestimated you and we apologize for that. But it was necessary."

The fake commander narrowed his eyes and stood up, slowly raising his right hand, prompting Eli and Maki to reach for their guns.

"Tedeza Aki, at your service," he said and saluted like a practiced soldier.

Maki and Eli shared a confused glance while Umi stepped forward and saluted back. "Sonoda Umi. Thank you for stating your loyalty."

Tedeza lowered his hand and bowed deeply to show his respect. "It is an honor to meet a Soldier. If the rumors about your organization are correct, then I am not worthy to return your gaze."

"I see, our reputation precedes us," Umi said, stepping forward to touch Tedeza's shoulder, making him look up. "Then you should know that equality is one of our main goals. We don't look down on others nor do we want to be placed on high pedestals. We fight together for our mission."

Tedeza's eyes glinted, Umi's words resonating in him. "Yes, understood!"

"Then, we shouldn't waste any time," Umi said, turning around to pointedly look Maki and Eli. "The General needs us at the front. We should be going."

Maki and Eli slowly nodded, playing along because they trusted Umi to handle the situation. She was the sharpest thinker among them with the talent to improvise plans even in sticky situations where they were at a disadvantage.

"Let's go," Eli muttered, nodding to Maki, who followed her out of the room.

Umi turned back to Tedeza. "I assume everything is going well on your side?"

"Everything according to plan," the man replied, putting his uniform hat back on and adjusting it. "The ships are ready. The interception begins tomorrow morning with Tokyo Bay."

So it all led to a naval blockade of the ports just as they had speculated. Umi cleared her throat. "There should be nothing that can stop this, right?"

Tedeza nodded. "I followed the General's advise to erase any risk of failure. Even if I died, the order is irrevocable."

Umi clenched her fist. She was so close to finding out the truth, yet didn't dare to probe any further because that would only reveal how little she knew. "Good," she said. "General Tojo really thinks of everything. Even things you didn't know would matter."

"That is what I admire about her," Tedeza said, putting a hand over his heart. "I didn't even consider those possibilities...When she told me to utilize my soldiers, to convince them for our cause, I was amazed. Instead of using deceit or force to get my orders through, I had something so much more powerful on my side – my soldiers' loyalty."

Remaining calm on the outside though she felt a surge of excitement at the revelation, Umi now knew how Nozomi had managed to steer the Navy completely without outer force.

"Of course," she muttered, more to herself than to Tedeza. "It was so simple...The previous commander was a despicable man who split his army apart with his cruel idea of fun. At the point of his death, the Navy was at its lowest in the aspects of morale and solidarity. He left behind a gap that needed to be filled desperately. And when you offered them a purpose again, a common goal to fight for side by side, you revived them."

Umi released a long breath. "Leading people with loyalty instead of controlling them with oppression – more battles are won this way."

Tedeza smiled widely. "And that is why we will all follow General Tojo till death! Because only she can lead this war that's about to begin, only she can lead this country to balance. She is the General, and we trust her with our lives because we know she values them."

The twitch in his smile and the glint in his eyes had a tint of madness, and he expectantly gazed at Umi, waiting to hear a reply that would reinforce his opinion.

The corners of Umi's lips curved up in a grim smile. "That's right, she is the General. And we are the Soldiers."

And before Tedeza could see it coming, he was knocked to the ground with a right hook to his head, unconscious before his body hit the floor.

Maki and Eli, who had been listening outside by the door the whole time, stormed back in and pointed their guns at Tedeza.

"He's out," Maki muttered, lowering her weapon. "What do we do? Kill him?"

Umi flexed her right hand, hissing when the impact of the punch still sat deep in her knuckles. "Killing him would be against our code. He isn't responsible for the plans that Nozomi made." She used her left hand to place a bug beneath Tedeza's table.

"But what then? We can't let him lie here," Eli said, rolling her left shoulder and grimacing when the bullet wound still stung despite the pain killers she had taken. "Once he wakes up, he'll tell Nozomi that we're after her."

"Which she already knows," Umi countered. "Do you really think she wouldn't calculate on our interference? After using us, betraying you? Of course she knows we're after her."

Eli ground her teeth, knowing that Umi was right, but it still hurt to be reminded of the betrayal.

"Let's tie him up first," Maki suggested, not wanting her friends to start fighting in such a risky place. "We'll talk about the rest later."

But voices nearing the room forced them to change their plans. After sharing a quick glance, they wordlessly agreed to escape and leave Tedeza behind.

The three of them managed to get out of the building unnoticed, and the people who walked past them mistook them for high-ranked officers because of their formal clothing.

Once they got into their car, Umi activated the bug and turned on a small speaker resting in the center console. The voices that blared out of the device were distorted and shrill at first, but after a bit of tweaking at the knobs, the connection stabilized.

" - ambulance on the way."

"Good. Meanwhile, send him to the infirmary."

"Yes, sir!"

It got silent when no one spoke, and Eli thought the speaker had a connection error again, but a new voice rang out of it.

"Sir, what about tomorrow?"

"What about it?"

"His situation looks bad. Whoever knocked him out, they knew exactly where to hit to cause a concussion. He might be out of it for the next few days."

"This changes nothing. He was never important to begin with. He was just a chess figure, like all of us."

"Sir, what does that mean?"

"Nothing. Go back to work."

"Yes, sir."

The sound of footsteps got fainter until a door fell shut. Static filled line.

Umi turned off the speaker, slowly looking up to meet the lost gazes of Eli and Maki.

"Tedeza wasn't lying," Umi mumbled, letting her head fall against the headrest. "It's irrevocable. With or without him, it's going to happen."

"Who was that other person?" Clenching her fist, Maki suppressed her urge to punch something. "That person clearly knew that they were all Nozomi's puppets. He said it himself, they were all chess figures... chess figures in a game that Nozomi controls. But he didn't sound like he cared at all. Actually, he sounded..."

"Like he was proud to be a part of Nozomi's game," Eli finished for her.

They fell silent. No one felt like talking anymore. Just when they thought they had gotten one step ahead of Nozomi, she revealed that she had been three steps ahead of them from the beginning.

* * *

 

The 28th floor of a huge skyscraper in the middle of Tokyo's financial district was the office of an organization with the initials ES. A key card needed to be inserted in the elevator first to be able to push the button for that floor or else it wouldn't move. But even if someone unauthorized managed to enter that floor, they wouldn't be able to get past the fingerprint and eye scan that denied them access to the offices. They would be stuck in a tiny space between the elevator doors and a wall of dark tinted glass.

The ES was registered as an environmental organization which specialized in advising companies on eco-friendly production. Other than this bit of information, no one outside the group knew what exactly their activities entailed. Whatever it was they were doing, their job was lucrative and secretive. No other company had deemed such high security standards for their offices necessary. All the other offices in the same building were freely accessible. But floor 28 was an exception.

Most people could understand the security measures. An environmental organization in the middle of production companies probably felt the need to protect itself since their environmental goals clashed with most companies' profit objectives. They wouldn't put it past some companies to send spies or hire hackers to ruin the ES.

But above all those speculations, there was only one truth: The entire 28th floor was an office to only three people. And they were not affiliated with environmental work at all, not in the climatic sense.

"Fantastic," Maki muttered, pulling off her tie and carelessly throwing it over her shoulder. "How do we stop an entire fleet from blocking the ports in Tokyo Bay?"

She watched Eli fetching crushed ice from the fridge and putting some of it in a glass before she poured a generous amount of Vodka into it.

"Don't tell me you're going to drink that."

"Of course not," Eli replied, taking the glass and handing it to Umi, who accepted with a grateful nod. "That was for Umi."

The blonde proceeded to lift the bottle and pour Vodka into her own mouth without twitching a brow.

Maki gaped at her.

Setting the Vodka bottle on the table again, Eli let out a satisfied 'Harasho' and wiped at her wet lips. "It's been a while since I had a reason to drink."

"I don't understand how you can drink it like that," Umi muttered, still tentatively sipping on her drink.

Maki stared between Umi and Eli. They were supposed to be her older, more reasonable counter parts, but they seemed to have lost it.

"This is why I don't like being in your office," she said in irritation, pointing to the alcohol cabinet next to Eli's work desk where dozens of expensive liquor bottles were lined up. "Why did you have to go after the stereotype of an old business man who always has some whiskey in his office?"

"That's not whiskey," Eli replied neutrally, taking another sip from her bottle. "That's finest Vodka directly imported from Russia."

"Like this stereotype is any less bad," Maki muttered into her hands that she had clasped together in front of her face. "What's next, Cuban cigars?"

"Actually, I prefer the milder taste of cigars from the Dominican Republic." Eli walked over to her work desk, opened a drawer and took out a humidor.

"You've got be kidding me." Maki buried her hands in her hair, wanting to tell Eli to put all distracting things away and get serious again when the blonde took out two cigars, offered one to Umi and put the other one between her lips. As they took their time to get the thick end of their cigars burning, Maki's mouth went slack.

"You two," she whispered, feeling a surge of anger when Eli and Umi questioningly looked at her, calmly taking a puff of their cigars. "A national chaos is about to break out, innocent people might get hurt in the blockade tomorrow, and here you are, acting like none of that affects you! What's wrong with you, don't you care at all anymore?"

Eli exhaled, blowing smoke into the air. "Of course we do. But there's nothing we can do right now. We lost. Nozomi's won. All we can do is wait until the next game begins."

"What?" Maki turned to Umi, who was trying to drink her Vodka without pulling a grimace. "Umi, don't tell me you think the same."

Umi sank down in her armchair, looking tired. "I've been up for two days. I still haven't changed out of my clothes that I wore to the gala, and aside from being nationally hunted, I'll never be able to meet Kotori again. I'm sorry, Maki, but I want to be selfish just for a few seconds."

"But," Maki pulled at her collar in frustration, feeling like she couldn't get enough air to breathe, "you can't! You are Umi, you're always rational, you can't be selfish right now. You were the one who fooled Tedeza into believing us! You were the one who found out about Nozomi's plans. How can you stay indifferent after that?"

"Maki," Eli sighed, leaning back against her armchair. "We already went through every option. If there was a way to stop tomorrow, we would. But we can't, we can only wait and see until the cards are shuffled again."

"But-"

"We already eliminated all possibilities," Umi said, rolling her cigar between her fingers. "We can't blackmail Nozomi's puppets into anything because they have no families, no close relationships. Worse, they are ready to die for her. We also can't kill them all because that will trigger a mass panic if dozens of people in the government are murdered on the same day. And we also don't have enough time to convince them to stop their mission. Nozomi had years to build up her loyal network, how can we destroy that in under 24 hours?"

Eli rubbed her tired eyes. "Face it, Maki, we can only wait for Nozomi's next step. But this round is already decided. She had thought of everything, thought of every possible action we could take."

"That may be true, but...you two..." Maki let out a frustrated shout. She took off her suit and threw it in a corner, then rolled up the sleeves of her shirt.

"How can you stand by and do nothing?" she said angrily, ripping the Vodka bottle out of Eli's hand. "How can you give up so easily? What you are doing right now, it's pathetic."

Her words hit a sore spot in Eli. She got up from her seat. "Say that again. I dare you."

"Eli," Umi said warningly. "Maki, don't."

Maki slapped the cigar out of Eli's hands. "I said you are pathetic."

The Vodka bottle dropped to the ground, glass pieces were flying everywhere, but no one cared about the mess on the floor when Eli had Maki in a headlock.

Umi stood up to intervene, but Maki jerked her head backwards, headbutting Eli against her forehead, and she was released. Grabbing one of Eli's arms, she attempted to twist it around but the blonde had seen that move coming, instead winding herself free with a swift turn.

"Stop!" Umi shouted, her right hand grabbing Maki's wrist before she could throw a punch at Eli's face and her left arm deflecting a high kick from Eli. She pushed them apart from each other, standing between them.

"What are you thinking," she hissed, glaring between her friends. They were already panting from the short confrontation, only confirming that they had too little energy left to waste it on a fight between themselves. "Now's not the time for that. See what you've done, Eli's shoulder is bleeding again."

"I'm fine," Eli muttered between gritted teeth, turning her back on them when she checked up on her wound.

"Well, sorry for trying to keep it real," Maki said, glaring over Umi's shoulder at Eli's back. "Our country might go down and we're sitting here and planning to do nothing. This isn't how the Soldiers handle things."

"Maki," Umi sighed, "this isn't one of our usual cases. This is beyond what we can do. Even if we have a capable team of six IT professionals, we're only three people who can fight at the front. What can three assassins do to stop a naval blockade?"

"What about our connections to other secret societies? What about the Kousakas? And our weapon suppliers, the Hoshizoras? That would multiply our forces," Maki said, a hint of desperation in her voice because she couldn't believe that there was no way to still turn this game around.

"But none of them can offer something to counter such a large-scale deployment," Umi shook her head.

Getting more and more frustrated with every sentence Umi said to crush her hopes, Maki turned away from her. "I see. You two lost all will to fight because you lost your owners."

"What?"

Eli turned around. Both her and Umi stared at Maki with frozen expressions.

"You heard me," Maki said calmly. "Without Nozomi or Kotori, you two have become weak. I can see how you start caring less and less."

Umi instinctively took a step closer like she wanted to throw a punch at Maki, but she stopped. Looking down on her clenched fist, she hissed, "If I could turn back time, I would have stayed with Kotori. Eli wouldn't have gotten hurt, she might have been able to stop Nozomi and none of this would have happened."

She looked up at Maki with a hard look. "Call me anything you want, but I'm not weak. If I were weak, I would have abandoned my responsibilities as a Soldier and run with Kotori. If I didn't care about our mission, I would have let the police catch me because seeing Kotori again is what I desire more. But I didn't. I went against my heart and did what was expected of me, so don't call me weak or indifferent."

Maki buried her hands in her hair. "But then, why are you like this -"

"You don't understand," Eli said darkly. "You can still go home knowing that Nico will return back to it too at the end of the day. You can still look at the ring on your finger without feeling like getting shot in the chest."

Maki lifted her left hand and stared at her wedding ring. Seeing her and Nico's initials carved in the gold made her heart beat faster, warming her up from the inside. She wanted to see her. She wanted to hold her and kiss her, making sure that she was still there.

"You aren't the one who lost everything," Eli whispered. "You still have your wife. You know how she feels about you, you know she must be serious about you because she married you. But I..." Eli's voice cracked, "I never got the chance to ask Nozomi. I don't even know if she would have said yes. I don't know anything about her anymore, I can't even tell if she's ever been serious about me."

Maki felt her throat drying up. "Eli..."

Eli slumped down in her armchair, covering her face with her hands. "All I thought I knew about her...they were all lies. I knew nothing about her. But she knew everything about me and still did this to me."

"I..." Realizing that she had never once paused to see things from Eli's or Umi's perspective, Maki felt guilt settling in her heavy heart. She had not once thought about how much they two had to be suffering. They had put up such a tough exterior until now that Maki had forgotten about the vulnerable people behind it.

"I'm sorry. I called you selfish, but I was the one who acted selfish."

Maki didn't want to imagine how she would feel if the same happened to her. But luckily for her, it was very unlikely that Nico led a double life since every move and step of hers was documented on videos or photographs, either by professionals, paparazzi or fans. Yazawa Nico was an idol at all times.

The red-haired woman turned to Umi. "I'm really sorry. I actually looked forward to your wedding even when I said I didn't want to come."

Umi chuckled weakly. "I know. Kotori told me you were fretting about what to wear."

Maki glanced between her friends who had lost a big part of their lives in the past 24 hours. "So what now? Do we really just wait and see?"

"Seems like it," Umi replied quietly. Eli didn't look up.

Maki let herself sink down on a chair. "I guess we have our limits too. If Nozomi already reckoned with our every move against her..."

"Wait," Eli suddenly looked up, showing her red eyes which told them that she had been silently crying, "say that again."

Maki shared a confused glance with Umi, then repeated in a slow and unsure voice, "Nozomi reckoned with every move against her?"

Eli snatched her tablet from the table and turned on the screen. "That's it."

"What?"

Maki questioningly gazed at Umi, who looked just as confused.

Without looking up, Eli's fingers rapidly typed on the tablet. "There's still a way to beat Nozomi."

Maki and Umi sat up straight. "Explain."

"She has a plan for every move against her because she knows us. She knows we would try to do our best to stop her. She plays in a way where she expects us to attack in every way we can. But there is one thing she won't reckon with." Eli looked up. "And that's playing right into her hands."

Maki's eyes widened. Umi shook her head, her expression alert. "Don't tell me that you're planning to...no, this is too risky, we can't predict the consequences!"

Eli continued typing on her tablet, undeterred. "I'm contacting everyone in IT. We need everyone on board for this."

"Wait a minute, Eli, don't you think that this is crazy?" Maki asked, incredulous. "We can't possibly handle this, it could go out of control!"

But Eli shook her head. "No, this must be it. Nozomi is so sure of her judgment of our character, she made the mistake not to calculate on miscalculations. She's only winning because we act exactly as she predicted. If we try our best moves, we lose. If we try at all, we lose."

The tablet vibrated with an incoming video call. Eli hit accept. "So what do you think, Koizumi?"

The woman in the screen pushed up her glasses. "It's...it will be a lot of work, but it should be possible, I think. Timing is what matters. We would have to start now to get a maximum effect tomorrow. We need to make it before the evening news."

"Then let's not waste any more time," Eli said with grim determination. "Please start immediately. I'm counting on you."

 


	3. Begin Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever wonder how Eli, Umi and Maki became Soldiers?

 

## \------------------------  
BEGIN AGAIN  
\------------------------

_"Nozomi is so sure of her judgment of our character, she made the mistake not to calculate on miscalculations. She’s only winning because we act exactly as she predicted. If we try our best moves, we lose. If we try at all, we lose."_

Eli put aside her tablet and leaned back with a sigh.

"This is crazy," Maki said, shaking her head. "You can't instigate a nationwide demonstration within three hours."

"We have a team of professionals," Eli replied. "As long as they can get the message viral and make the evening news take notice, we'll be all set."

"No, I have to agree with Maki," Umi said, concerned. "This plan is madness. Beating Nozomi to it by being the first ones to prompt a nationwide riot? What are you thinking, this chaos is exactly what Nozomi wanted!"

"It's the opposite of it." Eli took off her suit and loosened her tie. "What she wants is to have everyone out on the streets protesting because they are desperate and scared. Turning our own military against us? That will cause chaos. We can even bet on other countries to intervene and then it will completely go out of control."

She looked up in determination. "But what we're doing is making the people voluntarily demonstrate because they are enlightened about the bad state of our country, and they will protest peacefully. We have to let them feel like they are in control over the situation, not the other way round. Nobody is forced to leave their work if they can't afford to. Nobody is forced to make a statement they're not ready to."

Maki rubbed her eyes, feeling her head spinning from the load of information she had to process in the past few minutes. "And how do you want to do that?"

Eli smiled. "The power of Social Media. Look."

She gave Umi and Maki her tablet. "Within the next few hours, our team of hackers will make the news of a demonstration go viral by implementing them in the systems of big social networks and boosting them with generated clicks. I told Koizumi not to damage the servers, only add new data and cover up the tracks so they don't get behind that it's been added artificially. We need to make them think that it's a topic made trending by the nation. Here, you can already see the results on some sites, these are only the beginnings."

Maki and Umi were on a social network site where people had less than 140 characters to express themselves. One of the trending tags caught their eyes.

"'Shout For Your Right To Speak'," Umi read. She clicked on the tag, being directed to a page with over a hundred results. "'No more injustice, no more sorrow! For our right to speak we will shout tomorrow!'"

"'Occupy the streets, occupy the roads! For our right to speak we will shout tomorrow!'" Maki continued.

Page after page, full of invocations to demonstrate the next day for a more equal system. After getting further into older results, they realized that the slogans were getting repetitive.

"The newest results are from real people who joined after seeing it getting so popular. The older ones are programmed," Eli explained, though she didn't need to as Umi and Maki had quickly figured it out.

Maki looked up. "No way. That was fast."

"Impressive, isn't it? Using the principle of viral marketing, we just have to make believe that this is what everyone talks about. And soon, this really becomes what everyone talks about," Eli replied. "Right now, our team is working on uploading as many articles about tomorrow's demonstration as possible so that it seems like it has been planned a while ago. We use every social network available."

"This is incredible," Umi muttered, continuing to browse through the web, discovering more and more sites with the demonstration topic trending. "And madness. But really incredible. Some reputable news sites are starting to react to this too...it won't be long until they bring out an article themselves."

Eli crossed her arms behind her head. "If we can get the evening news reporting this, then we've reached our goal. Then we've reached the maximum amount of exposure. It's no secret that a lot of people in this country are unsatisfied, the discontent has always been there. They just haven't found the right moment to voice it. And this is it, this is going to give them a chance to participate in something they didn't have the courage to start themselves. Once they know that they are not alone, that there are people across the country who feel the same, they will take this chance."

Umi put the tablet down, shaking her head in incredulity. "This is too sudden. How do we know if people will actually demonstrate tomorrow? It's easier to be active on the internet than out on the streets."

"But even those people have more courage in a crowd. And if we can offer that, they will march along too."

Maki pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "I'm getting a headache." She sighed. "We're seriously trying to beat Nozomi in her own game? What are you expecting to achieve?"

Eli stood up to get a new bottle from her alcohol cabinet. She stared at it with a wistful look. "Nozomi wasn't entirely wrong. We were naive to think that only few corrupt people in our country were responsible for the entire faulty system. It's also the ignorance of the masses that hinders progress."

This time, she poured the Vodka in a glass before she drank it, closing her eyes at the burning sensation like she had swallowed fire. She felt like fifteen again, when her first taste of Vodka had burned her unprepared taste buds.

"What we need to do is to enlighten the people, to make them see that we are far away from utopia. But the difference between our plan and Nozomi's is that we're striving for a 'controlled chaos'." She rotated her glass, watching the liquid swirl in it. "This movement, this revolution has to come from the population itself. If it is only triggered by an outside factor, the fire will quickly die. But if the fire is burning within the people, then we can expect them to fight until the end."

Eli looked up with hard expression. "I don't know what Nozomi is planning, but it doesn't sound like a peaceful change if she wants a revolution fueled by anger. So I do think that our approach is the best and only way."

Umi ran a hand through her hair, her jaw tense. "Let's assume this will work. What about the naval blockade tomorrow? That issue isn't solved yet."

"Actually," Maki spoke up, an idea beginning to form in her head. "I might have a plan. But it's even crazier than Eli's 'controlled chaos' stuff."

"Honestly," Umi said, "right now, nothing is too crazy for us anymore. So let's hear it."

\----------------------------------------------

"That is crazy," Umi muttered, feeling a headache of her own approaching.

"But we have no other choice," Eli replied, glancing at her watch. "I hope Maki has enough time."

After telling them of her idea, Maki had gone off to set her plan into motion for which she needed to visit home first. Both Umi and Eli were skeptical about the chances of success, but it was the only plan they had.

"This feels so unreal," Umi said, touching her forehead. "For the rest of the world, it's been a normal day."

"We've never been normal to begin with," Eli muttered, sinking down in her armchair, exhausted. Her hair and clothes were rumpled, her eyes had dark rings beneath them. Umi didn't fare much better, deep lines on her face were beginning to show, and she had taken off her suit too.

"Do you regret it?" Umi asked quietly, gazing up at the ceiling with a blank look. "Everything we've done so far, do you regret it?"

Eli closed her eyes. "I would be lying if I said no. But it's also not true if I said yes. I can't tell right now. Too much happened and I'm just trying to get enough air to breathe."

Umi hummed, the sound coming from deep within her chest. "I would be ignorant to say that everything we did so far was right. Maybe we were the bad guys all along." She lowered her voice. "I wonder what he would say if he were here right now."

Eli slowly blinked her eyes open. "But he isn't here. So I want to know what you would say."

"I..." Umi took a deep breath. "I don't regret it."

"How come?"

Umi blankly gazed at the ceiling. "How I feel about my past won't change what happened. I can deny it all I want, but my past is a part of me and it shaped me. If I regret my decisions now, I'm rejecting the part of me who decided this. So I'll try not to. Even if it might have been the foolish part of me, it's still who I am."

"I..." Eli closed her mouth. She felt something inside her aching. Umi was in her mid-twenties and yet she sometimes spoke with the heavy tone of someone twice her age. She had experienced too much that normal people wouldn't experience in several life-times. "I'm sorry."

Umi gazed at her in confusion. "What for?"

"For everything." Eli stared at her hands. "For dragging you into this. I said it before, you could have become someone great. Your bright head was needed. And as the oldest between us, I shouldn't have let you become an assassin." She clenched her fists. "He never told us to take the path he did."

"What are you talking about?" Umi sat up straight, her fatigue vanishing. "You didn't drag us into anything. We decided to follow his path together. We decided to become Soldiers together, so stop making it sound like you forced us into anything. And he knows that he couldn't have stopped us. He could only prepare us the best he could."

Umi pulled at her tie. "It's my fault I mentioned him. I broke our promise of not bringing him up again and letting him rest in the past. Let's go back to our promise and keep continuing his legacy the only way we can."

"Umi..." Eli mumbled. She closed her eyes and smiled. "Sometimes I forget that you're not the girl I knew twenty years ago."

"How can you forget that, I look nothing like twenty years ago," Umi muttered.

"But it still feels fresh," Eli breathed, closing her eyes again.

\----------------------------------------------

It had happened again. Why did it have to happen again? Had she been a terrible person in a past life that she was punished for it now? But she was only eight, she knew nothing of the world, she understood nothing, why was she punished for something she had no influence on?

Everything inside her hurt. She wanted to cover her eyes and ears and never see or hear anything ever again, just let the darkness swallow her. But she couldn't, she needed to stay strong for the blue-haired girl who was loudly weeping, crying and begging her parents to wake up. But they weren't going to wake up. They were never going to wake up again, resting forever on the ground with bullet holes in their heads.

"Umi..." Her voice was barely above a whisper, hoarse and broken. "Umi, they're not going to wake up..."

The smaller girl furiously shook her head, wiped at her eyes and kept pulling at the lifeless body of her mother.

"Mama! Mama, wake up! Please! Why won't you wake up?" she desperately cried between sobs, then turned to her father who lied next to her mother. "Papa...please wake up...Did I do something wrong? I promise I will get better! Wake up, please!"

"Umi," the blonde girl cried, "they're not going to wake up-"

"Mama...Papa...wake up..."

"Umi...they're not going to..."

The blue-haired girl screamed in anguish, her tiny body trembling as she lied on the ground between her dead parents in a fetal position, hardly getting enough air to breathe between her sobs.

Eli sank to her knees, tears streaming over her cheeks. It had happened again. And it hurt just as much as the first time. Maybe she was cursed, maybe she was meant to be alone. When the universe took her parents, she should have stayed alone instead of letting the Sonodas adopt her. But now she had brought the curse to Umi and lost her parents a second time.

\--

The murder had been later declared as a burglary gone wrong. But no charges against a person unknown followed, neither did the Sonodas get an autopsy. Eli and Umi were too young to understand that their parents' murder had been treated as nothing, quickly swept under the rug without getting any attention from the media. 

If they hadn't been immediately taken away by the police, they would have noticed that nothing of value in the Sonoda house was missing. Only the study had been completely destroyed, every furniture had been knocked over and folders and papers were scattered all over the ground.

Eli and Umi were taken in by a foster home and assigned to a new family. But their foster father always came home late from work, drunk and aggressive, and when he tried to hit his wife one night, Eli and Umi stabbed him in his thigh with a kitchen knife. After this incident, they were transferred to a different family, never knowing what happened to the woman, who had defended her husband when the police came.

Their new foster family used to have a child before it committed suicide. When Umi and Eli found out why, they ran, crying for the girl who had never been seen as one by her parents. Isolation, therapies, threats and beatings didn't make the girl stuck inside a boy's body change, but they destroyed her.

The two girls ran and ran, away from the misery that seemed to follow them. Maybe if they ran fast enough, they could outrun the curse that was placed on them.

They were starving and exhausted when they stumbled into an alley where a red-haired girl was cornered by a large man. He was shouting at her, yelling about how much he had paid to save her from child traffickers, expecting her to show some gratitude. A minute later, he was lying on the ground in the dirt, knocked unconscious by Umi with a metal pipe.

And then they were three. But still homeless. They had nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. They were just children, but no one gave them much attention, thinking they were sent by their parents to beg for money.

But their curse ended when a young man found them sleeping on the doorstep to an abandoned shop. He called his brother and told him to get him blankets, clothes, a flashlight and food. 

He bundled the children up in thick blankets, put on more clothes himself and stayed awake by their side the whole night, making sure no one could harm them while they slept.

When it was morning, Umi was the first one to wake up and find herself wrapped in a warm blanket. That was when she noticed a man sitting with his back turned to them, his head tilting to the side every few seconds as he was close to dozing off.

She screamed in fear, waking up the man and the two other girls, who looked around in confusion and panic. Was someone out to get them again? Was someone going to kill them like they killed their parents?

"No, it's okay," the man whispered, carefully pushing a box that was filled with bread and rice balls towards them without getting closer to them himself. He didn't stand up either, making sure to remain the same height as the girls.

They didn't trust him. But their stomachs growled. They eyed the food with watering mouths.

The man took out water bottles from a bag and let them roll to the girls' feet. They quickly reached for them because closed water bottles from the store couldn't have anything strange in them, and they eagerly drank the bottles empty.

"Here are some clothes," the man said, pulling out old jackets. He chuckled to himself. "These are mine, so they'll be too large on you. But this way they can keep your whole body warm, even your legs."

They didn't know how he had done it, but they slowly came to trust him. They ate all the food and drank more water, then put on the clothes without a word.

"Come with me," the man said, smiling gently. He was young, they could tell that he probably had just turned of age. "Come with me and I can help you."

But the girls hesitated, shaking their heads.

"Then I will come back tonight," he said.

And he kept his promise. He came back that night. And every other night. He always brought food and fresh clothes, always watched over them when they were sleeping but he was gone during the day. Weeks went by with no changes until one day, he showed up with one eye shut and bleeding. He told the girls not to worry, that they should go to sleep as usual, but they refused.

That was the first time they followed him home. It was a small apartment above a dojo that he owned with his older brother.

The three girls didn't know how to help him medically, so they brought him water and food and made sure to change out the towel on his eye as he rested on his bed. They didn't understand why he didn't just go to a hospital. He just said something about being only in more danger if he went there.

His eye never healed. He wore an eyepatch ever since and he was called Pai by the girls as short for pirate. Pai just laughed at his new nickname but accepted it without protest.

Umi, Maki and Eli started living with Pai and his brother. They helped out with their dojo and started taking lessons themselves along with other students. They worked hard to make Pai proud and they soon became the best in his class, not only because of their diligence but also because of their talent. It seemed like they possessed a natural aptitude to predict their enemy's next move, allowing them to react fast enough to counter almost any attack. The colors of their karate belts changed rapidly until they finally reached black. By that time, they were sixteen.

Pai became like a father to them. The third father Eli had, the second to Umi, and the first one to Maki, who had never grown up with a father figure before. Her mother had raised her alone until she had been murdered. Two men had stormed into their tiny apartment one night and choked her to death, then grabbed her screaming daughter and drugged her so she wouldn't struggle as she was taken away.

Maki was too young to remember her father, which was why she turned out to be more attached to Pai than Umi and Eli. Up until she was twelve, she followed him around wherever he went and was content with sitting in his room reading while he took a nap.

The girls all tried to copy their role model in some ways. Pai had caught fifteen year old Eli trying to drink his Vodka that he had left on the kitchen counter. He quickly snatched it away and said that this was a trait she didn't need to learn from him. Or at least, not now.

One day, Pai walked into his bedroom to find his closet emptied out, and Umi and Maki slowly appeared from behind the mountain of clothes, wearing his suits. He laughed for five minutes at the sight of two little girls in overlarge suits that reached to their knees. They had also tried to wear ties but didn't know how to knot them, so they had tied it the same way they would seal a bag with a rope.

The next day, Pai came home with three little suits that he had bought from the boys' section and he showed the girls how to do a four-in-hand knot. Since that day, whenever Pai wore a suit, the girls would too. At that time, he couldn't know how his habit had shaped Eli, Umi and Maki for the future. He couldn't know that his traits would later become a part of the Soldier's identity.

Day after day, self-study in the morning, training in the afternoon and workout in the evening, the three girls steeled their body and mind with such a rigorous schedule. Pai and his brother taught them everything they knew, becoming not only their teachers but also their parental figures. They spent almost every day together, laughing, training, learning, fighting.

But there were some days were neither Pai nor his brother could teach them martial arts because they were out for the whole day. They always told the girls they were busy helping people by improving the environment and cleaning up the dirt. Sometimes they came back with bleeding wounds or bruises. But they only smiled, ruffled the girls' hair and told them they had done something good for the people again.

It wasn't until they were eighteen when they finally understood.

A fire had been laid in the dojo and it had burned down everything. Burning the place that had become their home, burning the apartments above, burning Pai and his brother to death, only leaving behind their ashes that couldn't be distinguished from the rest of the black remainder. 

Maki, Umi and Eli only survived because Pai had let them escape through the windows first, making sure they got safely on the ground before he allowed himself to pass out from inhaling too much carbon monoxide. His brother had been injured from the day before, unable to move on his own, and he also passed out before the fire took his life.

And there was nothing the three girls could do. They couldn't climb back up to the burning apartment, they didn't know how to carry two men out even if they could climb up. Everything just kept burning, the crumbling walls couldn't hold the old building any longer, and the girls had no choice but to watch their last home fall apart and burn down to the ground. The fire department only arrived when the walls had given in and the building had collapsed, burying everything beneath a heap of burning debris.

So here they stood, in front of nothing which used to be their everything. They should be used to it by now, losing everything. But no matter how tough their body and mind had become from their years of training, they were still brought to their knees at the sight of their home in ashes.

Maki took his death the hardest. Despite not shedding a single tear, she refused to leave her now non-existent home, not budging when Eli and Umi tried to pull her away from the ruins. It escalated into a fight between Maki and Eli, and Umi didn't intervene because she knew they were just hurting and searching for a way to forget the pain. They threw punches at each other and didn't dodge them because they wanted the physical pain to distract them from everything else, to remind themselves that they were alive. They were alive because Pai had wanted them to live.

And they only had one thing of him left, the only proof he had ever existed.

Pai had shoved a key and a note with an address into Eli's hands before they had climbed out of the window. His last words to them were, "You are the bravest team I've ever met, as brave as a thousand soldiers together. Please take care."

The address he had given them led them to an inconspicuous warehouse in an old industrial area of the city where most of the buildings used to be production factories or storehouses before one factory after another closed down. Now they all stood empty, but were still locked up so homeless people couldn't settle down inside them.

The key that Pai gave Eli unlocked a world unknown to them. The warehouse itself was unspectacular, huge and spacey and empty. But Umi had noticed that there was a rectangle space on the ground that was less dirty and dusty than the area around it. It turned out to be a hidden door that led to an underground room.

And what they found next defined the rest of their lives.

A variety of guns and knives were stacked on one side of the wall, the opposite wall was one giant pin board of which each square centimeter had been covered by cut out newspaper articles, names, photographs, most of them being snapshots of people's faces. Between the weapons and the pin board, three computers with six large screens had been set up, and the desk was scattered with external hard drives and other data carriers.

But three other things caught the girls' attention. There were three files on the desk with their names on it. Nishikino Maki, Sonoda Umi, Ayase Eli. They each took theirs respectively. And by the time they had finished reading it, they all knew what had to be done, they all knew what was going to happen next. In that instant, their future had been already decided.

The files that Pai had prepared for them was the result of a year long research on their parents' murder. He had purposely laid them out in the open because he had feared that one day, he might not be alive for the moment he needed to give those files to them. And he turned out to be right. His research had left traces, leading right back to him and he was killed by the same people who had killed Umi's and Eli's parents.

In a note that Pai had left for the girls, he said it was their choice to follow which path. He hadn't given them those information so they could exact revenge, but rather that they had closure. What they decided to do next with the information wasn't something Pai could control, neither did he want to. They were free to choose their own path.

And they chose the battle. They chose to fight. They swore to never speak of Pai's name again in a world that didn't deserve him, they swore to honor him silently by continuing his legacy.

And their very first mission was to avenge their parents, to avenge Pai and his brother. They dealt with the murderers of Maki's parents first because they were an easier target. In one night, the Soldiers eliminated a whole gang of child traffickers, who sold the children to prostitution rings. They had managed to stay undetected for so long because the local police department had been bribed to close an eye on them. The corrupt police chief also ended up with a sliced throat the next day.

But their next mission needed careful planing. It wasn't a crazy killer who had murdered Umi's and Eli's parents all those years ago, it wasn't an ordinary enemy. It was the chairman of the leading party in the country who had financed his political campaigns with dirty money from drug dealing, money laundering and prostitution. Under a different name, he was a powerful figure in the underworld and he led a gang that had no scruples, executing his orders without questioning him. But out in the normal world, he was called Kasei Hideki, an eloquent man whose slogan 'For A Fairer Tomorrow' had won over the majority in the elections.

Eli's mother, a renowned journalist, had been commissioned to write an article about the success story of the man who seemed to have won the election overnight. But during her research on his campaign sponsors, company shares and his background, information started getting blurry and contradicting. She called up sponsors who didn't exist, tried contacting companies who refused to give an interview, at last she attempted to directly talk to Kasei. But his manager warded her off.

So she published an article where she criticized the party leader's dubious past and his non-existent sponsors. Where did the money come from? Where did his followers come from? His political program didn't promise anything new, most of the points were almost identical with that of his opponents.

Hours after that article went online, she received a phone call and when she picked up, it was Kasei himself. He asked her to take that article down because of inaccuracy. She refused. He offered her money, more money than she would earn in a year. She still said no. She said her article was only the beginning, she was going to find out the whole truth because she couldn't let someone so obscure make important decisions for her country.

The next day, Eli came home from school to find her parents and her little sister still sitting at the kitchen table, their breakfast untouched, sprinkled with blood.

She screamed. Screamed until the neighbors came, cried until the police arrived, and then stayed silent for days until the Sonodas were allowed to legally adopt her and take her away from the orphanage.

The Sonodas had been close friends to the Ayase family, so it was no question that they would warmly welcome Eli into their family. Umi already looked up to the blonde as an older sister too.

But while Eli let herself heal in the loving embrace of her new parents, the Sonodas couldn't stop talking about the murder at night when the children were asleep. They were shocked when they found out that no autopsy had been ordered. They were lawyers, they frequently stood in courts and fought to get guilty criminals into jail, so they knew the usual procedures after a murder. But the Ayase family wasn't granted that. Their bodies were already resting beneath the ground in a graveyard by the time the Sonodas could intervene.

The court said that the evidence at the crime scene and the photographs of the bodies sufficed for further investigation. An autopsy would be unnecessary as the victims had obviously died from bullets entering their brain.

The Sonodas knew right away that someone powerful was involved to hinder the investigation of their friends' murder. If they wanted to reveal the perpetrator, they needed solid evidence to be able to stand a chance against them. So they broke into the Ayase home one night and gathered all the information they could, knowing that they were acting illegally and risking their jobs, but they couldn't let their friends' case end like this. What were they going to tell their daughter once she grew up and understood that her parents had been intentionally killed?

But as careful as they were, they weren't careful enough. The moment they had found out the truth was the same moment that secret had died with them.

Until Pai came across it ten years later. Ten years, and Kasei Hideki was still active. Despite not being the leader of his party anymore, he was still as powerful and influential as ever, if not even more. Instead of standing at the front himself, he directed everyone from the shadows, and his successor was nothing more than his puppet.

Under the pretense of creating a more democratic government, Kasei played a clever game using a double strategy where he made false promises to both ends of an agreement while he was the one who profited the most. Companies wanted him to loosen emission restrictions while the citizens wanted a reduction of industrial discharge. So he promised his voters to bring forth stricter regulations while he told the companies that he might be able to hold off the new laws if they could reimburse their pollutant emissions with a certain amount of money that would go into funding development projects for climate protection. Millions of US dollars ended up somewhere in one of Kasei's bank accounts all over the world.

The citizens never found out if new regulations had been introduced. They had forgotten all about it weeks and months later, when other news brought different problems to the foreground. Terrorist attacks, civil wars in other countries, inexplicable plane crashes and human rights' movements became more important. Every week, a different topic dominated the news. Yes, the climate was still changing, but society too and wasn't that issue more immediate?

Kasei never had to explain why he didn't bring forth new regulations. He deemed humans as ignorant creatures, who were always focused on the now, forgetting about today's problems in a week when it would be no longer a fresh topic, when no one talked about it any longer. His favorite example of human ignorance were refugee camps. Refugee camps existed all over the world but the importance of the issue was in direct correlation with the amount of exposure it got in the media. On some days it was an issue that needed worldwide attention and immediate intervention, on other days it was an issue that didn't seem to exist.

Kasei absolutely despised people. Many had died at his orders. But some he had saved on good days. They had managed to entertain him with their ideologies of the future society, so he had granted them money and a home. He saw it as an investment in case he had to use puppets some time in the future again.

For years, Kasei Hideki was untouchable. Until he was murdered on a summer night.

He was out taking a walk in the park with two bodyguards trailing behind him when two bullets pierced his skull. His bodyguards were spared from the same fate. Even when they reacted fast by scouting the nearby area and calling backup, they couldn't manage to find the assassin. It was most likely a long distance shot from a sniper.

The nation mourned the loss of a hero he never was. His puppet of a successor didn't keep his position for long, making way for a new leader who genuinely fought for a fairer tomorrow.

Kasei's gang divided into smaller groups who didn't survive for long on their own; Eli, Maki and Umi hunted every single member down who was associated to that man. They felt no mercy the same way the gang members had felt no mercy at killing their parents. Maki burned all the illegal money and drugs while Eli and Umi made one man after another drop dead to the ground with a clean shot to their heads.

Their vendetta was over. They had their closure now. They didn't have to kill anyone anymore. But there were more people like Kasei out there, even worse ones, and how could Maki, Eli and Umi sleep at night knowing that people like him might be destroying more lives and families?

They realized there was no going back. They didn't want to go back. They were needed, they were the only ones who could do it - keeping their sanity while working in the dark. It was a battle that had just begun, a battle of many, probably a war even. A war against everything wrong in their world. And they were ready to fight; after all, they were as brave as a thousand soldiers. And Soldiers they became.

\--------------------------------------------------

Eli's eyes fluttered open, blinking in confusion. "How long have I been out?"

"Twenty minutes," Umi said after glancing at her watch. "I figured you needed the nap."

"Yeah," Eli breathed, rubbing at her tired eyes. The nap hadn't been restful for her at all. She wanted to tell Umi of what she had dreamed when the tablet on her work desk vibrated, indicating an incoming video call. Eli quickly reached for it and turned on the screen.

"Koizumi?"

The woman in the screen looked tired but satisfied. "Please turn on your television."

Umi grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the large flat screen in their office which took up half of the wall. "The evening news!"

"Almost every channel is reporting it," Koizumi remarked, readjusting her glasses. "Some institutions are planning to stay closed tomorrow for safety reasons. Schools, embassies and administrative buildings of the government are affected. The police are preparing to protect the governmental building."

The television was mute, Eli and Umi preferred to listen to Koizumi's summary since it was shorter and to the point. While she informed them, the news channel presented screen shots of the reactions to the demonstration announcements on social media.

Dubbed as the 'New Equality Movement', it was described as a revolutionary turnaround in the country because it showed the unity and solidarity of the people as never seen before. The nation was fired up, everyone was ready to be part of the change, whether young or old. The old wanted to redeem their inaction in the past and fight for a better future for their children. The young wanted to take their fate into their own hands, shaping a world they wanted to grow old in.

If they didn't revolt now, when would they ever get the chance to shout their pain off their chest? When would they ever get the chance to fight for their own future again? Everyone wanted their share of sense of purpose and accomplishment in life. Everyone wanted to feel like their existence made a difference in the universe. Up until now, they had been floating, drifting weightlessly through life without a sense of direction, always living for tomorrow because today never seemed to be good enough. And now they had finally found something that made them feel alive, made them feel like their voice would matter.

They just wanted to feel like they mattered. They didn't want to go under in a materialistic and capitalistic system where someone's worth was based on wealth, social standing and academic performance. In a game that favored the privileged people, there were bound to be losers who could neither change their fate nor escape it.

But the New Equality Movement was their chance to be heard. To let everybody know that yes, they had been born on the losing side of life, but life wasn't a game. There should be no losing or winning side. There should be equal chances at a life worth living for everyone.

"All social networks are burning up with this topic," Koizumi reported. "It's flooding the nation. Everyone with access to media has heard or seen it by now. If we deduct the generated clicks and posts we programmed, we will have over seven million participants in the nationwide demonstrations tomorrow. Alone in Tokyo we can expect a number of over one million. The entire infrastructure will be brought to a standstill."

"Over seven million?" Umi repeated in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ms Sonoda." Koizumi sounded unhappy about being doubted. "Those are our current calculations. The numbers will change over night, though a decrease is unlikely."

"What are the chances of chaos breaking out?" Eli probed. "Did you include the points I asked you to?"

"Of course. Chances of violent outbreaks are not be underestimated since we are dealing with large numbers here. But we made sure to focus on a peaceful propaganda and we have received only positive feedback so far."

Satisfied, Eli nodded. She wanted to thank Koizumi and her team for their hard work when the telephone in her office rang.

Umi got up from her seat, alert. Eli stared at the ringing telephone on her desk.

"Is everything okay?" Koizumi's insecure voice rang out from the tablet.

"Koizumi, I need you to track down whoever is calling me on my office phone," Eli said tensely, and Koizumi nodded, immediately getting to work.

It was a phone that they never used, having only installed it because they were required to specify a number if they wanted to rent a floor in this building. They needed to be addressable by the reception in case a visitor needed to be announced.

She picked up the phone and put it on speaker. "This is Ayase Eli, how can I help you?"

"Hello, this is the reception. We would like to forward a call from the Minami Group with your permission."

Umi shot up from her seat. Eli shared a tense look with her. When Umi hesitantly nodded, Eli said, "Yes, please do."

"Just a moment please." 

The line clicked.

"Hello, Eli.”

Eli sank down in her chair, feeling her chest tighten. “Nozomi…”

“I miss you.” Nozomi’s voice sounded soft. Eli’s hands shook.

“What are you trying to do?” Umi said harshly, not trusting the other woman who still had the capability to manipulate Eli without being present.

“Umi…I’m really sorry to hear about what happened to you. The wedding was all Kotori talked about. I hope you are doing alright?”

Umi turned away and forced herself to remain calm. “What game are you trying to play?”

“Game?” Nozomi’s questioning voice rang through the speaker. “I see. I lost all your trust, didn’t I?”

“Is that surprising?” Umi hissed. She worriedly looked at Eli, whose torn expression left deep lines on her face.

“I’m sorry it became this way,” Nozomi said, sounding sincere. “I never meant to set you up as my enemies. Eli, listen please, I know you’re blaming yourself for everything that has happened, but I would have finished my mission sooner or later. I knew I couldn’t get to keep both you and my plan, I knew I had to choose at some point.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Umi said angrily when Eli wistfully glanced at the phone.

“Eli, I love you. I really do. It hurt to leave you that night, and I honestly considered giving up altogether. But I think you will understand one day. Maybe sooner than you think.”

Eli’s eyes widened. “Nozomi…”

Umi took Eli’s tablet where the video call with Koizumi had not been disconnected yet.

“Koizumi, where’s the call coming from?” she asked quietly.

“It’s a number registered to the Minami Group, but I need more time to be able to tell the exact location. It could be anywhere in the Minami Group Tower,” came the fast reply among the clicking sounds of swift fingers typing away on a keyboard.

“Nozomi, where are you,” Eli said, desperation in her voice. “We can fix this. We don’t have to fight each other.”

“We really don’t,” Nozomi whispered in a sad tone. “I never wanted to become your enemy, Eli. But this was the only way…”

“Tsh,” Umi pressed through gritted teeth. “It couldn’t have been.”

“The demonstrations won’t change anything,” Nozomi said without reacting to Umi. “The government will make empty promises like they’ve always done before and once everything cools down, they pretend nothing ever happened. But I need more chaos, I need it to consume the whole city or I won’t be able to finish my mission.”

“Don’t,” Eli begged, hovering over the phone. “Tell me where you are, we’ll work this out together.”

“Eli…” Nozomi’s voice was soft. “Stop tempting me with things I’m not allowed to have. Being with you felt like a beautiful dream, but I can’t allow myself to be distracted by a dream when I’m needed in our reality. A reality that is far less romantic than our dreams.”

“Nozomi-”

“Please don’t chase after me. I beg you not to. I don’t want to put you in a dangerous position. Especially you, Umi. It will only hurt Kotori if you are caught because the only way she’ll hear from you is seeing your name pulled through the dirt by every news media.”

Umi clenched her fist. “As if I don’t know that.”

“Then please don’t follow me. Please.”

“I’m sorry,” Umi answered in a grim tone. “I can’t do that.”

“I’m sorry too,” Nozomi replied, soft. “I hope you can forgive me some day.”

Umi remained silent.

“Eli…goodbye.”

“No, Nozomi, don’t…”

“Please don’t ever think I didn’t love you. I’m doing this all for you.”

The line beeped when the call was disconnected. Eli slammed her fist down on the table, letting out a shout of misery and pain.

"We have her," Koizumi announced, undeterred by Eli's outburst. "Minami Group Tower, the administration office on the 26th floor. But I doubt that she will still be there by the time you arrive."

"It doesn't matter," Umi said, checking up her gun. "We still need to visit the places she's been to so we can get a hint on the places she'll go to."

"Umi, you can't," Eli said tiredly. "Your face is too familiar to everyone working at Minami Group. Let me handle that one alone."

"No, absolutely not," Umi refused. "You are not in peak form right now with your wounded shoulder. I won't let you do this alone, especially not if we might confront Nozomi. And it's evening now, so there shouldn't be many people left."

Sensing that arguing with Umi in her determined state was a waste of scarce energy, Eli nodded. Every second counted, they needed to move fast if they wanted to increase the chance of catching Nozomi.

"Let's go."

\---------------------------------------------------

Few people were working overtime in the Minami Group Tower at nine in the evening. The reception in the entrance hall was unoccupied and no security guard was in sight either.

Umi had only visited Kotori's workplace once and after they had almost gotten caught undressing each other in Kotori's office, Umi refused to visit her fiancée during work again. Both had a professional reputation to upkeep. Or at least, Kotori still had. Umi was now on the list of most wanted criminals across the country.

"Koizumi sent the OK," Umi muttered after glancing at her phone. "The cameras are disabled and the missing footage will be replaced by a random recording from last year. Log data will be overwritten. Let's go."

Eli nodded, feeling adrenaline kicking back in. She needed to stay alert, just for one more little mission.

They marched into the tall building, their open suit jackets fluttering as they walked fast and straight to the elevators, meeting no one on their way. If they did, they would arise suspicion instantly with their disheveled look.

Eli had shed her tie and unbuttoned her crumpled collar, the hem of her shirt no longer tucked inside her pants. Her suit was dirty too from spilled Vodka and blood because her shoulder wound had been reopened after her short fight with Maki. But she didn't even register the pain, too focused on her mission to be distracted by anything else.

Despite having a cleaner appearance, Umi wasn't in a better state than Eli. She had lost count of the hours she had been awake and running, only still able to open her eyes because she was afraid of passing out if she closed them for longer than a second.

When soft elevator music enveloped them like a sweet lullaby, they realized how close to collapsing they actually were. They couldn't stand on their feet for much longer, they needed to sleep and rest soon.

"Let's do this quickly," Eli muttered, blinking rapidly to stop her vision from getting blurry. The pain killers were taking a toll on her, numbing her mind. "I can't last another restless night."

"Me neither," Umi mumbled, gripping at her tie.

The elevator stopped at the 26th floor, opening its doors. Umi and Eli faced each other with a determined look, their eyes becoming focused again. They couldn't afford to make mistakes now.

The floor was unlit as no one worked here around this time anymore, which suited Umi and Eli just fine as they both preferred to move in the dark. Pulling out their guns and holding them up, they sneaked to the door with the label 'administration'.

Eli gazed at Umi, who nodded. The blonde pressed down the handle and Umi kicked the door open, storming in first with her gun raised, followed closely by Eli.

The room was pitch dark and dead quiet.

Umi lowered her gun and took out a tiny flashlight from her suit pocket, swinging it around the room before it landed on the office telephone. She stepped closer to it, narrowing her eyes when she discovered a thin layer of dust on it.

"Eli," Umi hissed, alarmed, quickly turning to her friend, "the call wasn't made from here, it only used its number. Nozomi was never here."

"No," Eli's eyes widened. "We've been set up."

"Bingo." And the lights went on.

Shielding their eyes, Umi and Eli were incapable of reacting as they were blinded by an unnatural source of light, too bright to be only the ceiling lights. Someone was purposely pointing a large flashlight at them.

"Finally got you."

Umi's gun was ripped out of her hands and she got shoved against the wall with her right cheek pressed against the cold surface. Her arms were roughly pulled behind her back so someone could close handcuffs around her wrists.

"Eli..." 

But her friend had already been pushed to the ground, lying on her stomach with her hands cuffed behind her back too.

The large flashlight went off, the room now only illuminated by warm ceiling lights. Eli blinked, lifting her head to see three policemen with bulletproof vests pointing their guns at her. She let her head drop on the ground again, closing her eyes. It was over.

"I said I would get you into jail no matter what... Sonoda Umi, you are under arrest for the murder of Yuuki Sora."

 


	4. Take Your Aim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more we know the less we believe

 

## \-------------------------  
TAKE YOUR AIM  
\-------------------------

"Sonoda Umi, you are under arrest for the murder of Yuuki Sora."

Umi held her breath when she recognized that voice. She turned her head, gazing into a pair of hate-filled eyes. "You..."

Erena's expression was cold when she said, "Yes, me. Or did you forget about me, Sonoda?"

Behind Erena, three other police officers had their guns pointed at Umi. It was hopeless, Umi had run out of luck to escape a second time.

"You will be taken along for interrogation as an accomplice to Sonoda Umi," one of the policemen said to Eli. He roughly pulled her up to get her on her feet, ignoring her pained outcry. "Also, if you cannot prove that you have a gun license, you will be charged for illegal possession of firearms."

"The same goes for you, Sonoda," Erena said darkly, giving Umi a shove to get her moving. "You will finally face justice after all you've done."

Umi and Eli were pushed out of the room and into the elevator with three policemen flanking each of their side, making it a total of six policemen guarding them.

Umi didn't dare to look up. How could she still look Eli in the eyes? She had known they were too tired at this point to make sound calculations, known that they were too exhausted to fight. They hadn't even considered Nozomi setting up a trap despite her being so obvious about it, they hadn't felt the presence of seven people in their vicinity, luring in the dark and waiting for them.

But Eli thought the same, blaming herself for dragging Umi into this. She knew that chasing Nozomi wasn't as much of a priority for Umi as for her, but because her friend didn't want to let her go alone, she ran right into doom with her.

"You probably wonder what I am doing with the police," Erena said, enjoying the sight of having Umi defeated.

"Not particularly," Umi answered tonelessly, keeping her expression blank. Even if captured, she would hold her head high. She would not lose her dignity and pride, she had to stay strong. For Eli. For Kotori who would soon see her like this. Umi's heart ached. This wasn't how she had imagined to meet Kotori again.

Erena scowled. "Still so arrogant...but your arrogance is what ruined you in the end. Did you know that you must have made quite the enemy? Because I received an anonymous call half an hour ago, telling me that I would catch you here."

Eli ground her teeth. No matter what they did, it seemed like Nozomi was always two steps ahead, always knowing which strings to pull to let an entire plan collapse.

Umi wondered how Nozomi knew that Erena had been hunting after her. Things were making less and less sense to her and she wasn't in the right state of mind to analyze them. All she could think of was that she had lost. She had been captured. If she and Eli didn't escape now, they would never get the chance to move freely again. But it was impossible, they were tired and disarmed, surrounded by armed policemen and even if they somehow managed to run, how far would they get in their weakened form?

The elevator stopped with a quiet 'ding' and the doors slid open, revealing the sight of more armed police officers waiting in the entrance hall. But they weren't the only ones present; some curious employees of the Minami Group had gathered around as well and they gasped when they recognized Umi, not believing their own eyes when they saw Kotori's fiancée in handcuffs.

"Move."

Eli and Umi stumbled when they were pushed out of the elevator. People started whispering and pointing at them.

"How does it feel," Erena whispered behind Umi, "to know that you are scum? To know that you brought shame to the Minami name?"

Umi didn't reply to that, instead asking, "How's Anju doing?"

Thrown off by the casual tone as if Umi was attempting to do small talk, Erena's expression turned sour. "She will be better once she sees you behind bars."

Eli glanced at Umi to her side, not quite understanding the situation. She didn't know Erena and her connection to Yuuki Anju.

They were led outside where three police vans were waiting for them.

"See you in prison," Erena said with a dark smile as Umi got pushed into the last van, followed by Eli.

"We will meet you at the precinct," a police woman informed Erena, who nodded and walked away to get into a police car herself.

Eli and Umi sat opposite of each other, both having a police officer on each of their side which made a total of four police officers watching them. To their feet was a large, bulky bag on the car floor.

The door was closed and the van started moving, following the other vehicles in front.

'I'm sorry', Umi expressed with her eyes when they met Eli's. The blonde shook her head. She had been also at fault, it was her who was obsessed with finding Nozomi.

In that moment, none of them could think. They were almost at the point of passing out from physical and emotional exhaustion. They had just lost everything and now they didn't care about anything anymore.

Their bleary eyes stared out the tinted window, seeing the police vans in front of them turning left before the lights turned red and forced their own van to stop, getting separated from the convoy. After a few seconds, the lights turned green again and they drove ahead.

Eli and Umi shared an alarmed look. Why weren’t they following the other police vans?

"Leave it to Tsubasa to have perfect timing," the driving female police officer suddenly spoke up.

The police man on Umi's left side reached for Umi's handcuffs and unlocked them. One of his colleagues copied his action, taking off Eli's handcuffs.

Eli and Umi didn’t dare to move despite being technically free now.

"Are you okay?" the driver asked, looking up at the rearview mirror, smiling. Umi's mouth opened in surprise when she recognized those sparkling blue eyes, always filled with optimism, deceiving her enemies with the illusion that she was naive and innocent.

"Kousaka Honoka?"

"In the flesh," Honoka said with a grin, lifting her police hat as a way of greeting. "Hanayo called us and said she was worried about you two getting caught, so we came."

Eli turned around, staring at the fake police woman in disbelief. And when she realized what had really happened, she sank down in her seat, covering her face with her hands, wanting to cry out in pure relief.

Umi felt like she could breathe again after being held down under water for so long and she closed her eyes. It wasn't over. Things weren't going to end like this.

The fake police officers took off their bulletproof vests and uniforms and let them pile on the floor. One man opened the large bag to their feet and pulled out new shirts, ties and suit jackets.

Eli and Umi couldn't believe their eyes as they watched everyone in the van change into suits.

"Ah, I can't wait to take this off too," Honoka said, glancing at them through the rearview mirror in envy.

"We apologize that we don't have clean clothes for you to change into, Ms Ayase, Ms Sonoda," one of the men said, bowing his head. "If we had known your situation, we would have brought a set for you too."

"No, that's okay."

Eli and Umi were far too relieved about not being captured to care about appearance now.

"Honoka, I can't thank you enough," Umi said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I really thought we were done for."

"And you looked like it. I felt so bad I almost wanted to reveal myself right away," Honoka said with a chuckle. She winked. "It's no problem though."

"But how did you manage to pull that off? How did you blend in, didn't they notice the surplus of the people involved?" Umi asked.

"It wasn't that difficult," Honoka replied, smiling. "Just had to pull some contacts. Some people at the precinct owed me a favor and I saved it for an emergency. Guess that paid out now."

Eli closed her eyes. "As expected of the Kousakas to have their ties everywhere."

Honoka chuckled in response.

"So," Umi looked outside the window. "Where are you taking us?"

"You must be tired," Honoka replied, concerned. "So we arranged a hotel suite for you because you need to rest."

Despite thinking that they had no time to rest, both Eli and Umi couldn't find the strength to protest. Sleep was what they had needed all along.

"We had luck finding a hotel suite last minute," Honoka said, tapping on the steering wheel when they had to wait at a red light. "It seems that some tourists have canceled their reservations because they fear tomorrow's demonstrations."

Honoka turned her head to gaze at the two women in the back. "Is it true? Did you really hack entire social platforms to spread the news of a demonstration?"

Eli just nodded.

Honoka whistled, impressed, turning back around to drive just in time when the lights were green again. "I don't know what's going down at the Soldiers headquarters, but it sounds like fun."

Umi snorted. "This isn't the kind of fun you really want."

"True," Honoka hummed. "I've always admired you guys for doing the things you do. I could never do that. But this is why I want to help the best I can."

"And this is more than enough for us," Umi said. "You saved us today and we don't know how to repay this."

"I know how to," Honoka said with a grin at the rearview mirror, meeting Umi's surprised gaze. "Just keep fighting. Keep fighting for a world we can live in without regrets. That's my only dream."

Eli and Umi looked at each other. Somehow, Honoka's words gave them strength and faith again. They closed their eyes with a small smile.

"And we will protect that dream. You can count on us to keep fighting until the end."

\--------------------------

"We can't stay, our car will attract attention," Honoka said once she and her team had guided Umi and Eli to their suite in a five star hotel. "But you need to rest anyway. A message has been sent to Maki, but she didn't reply yet."

"Maki," Eli muttered tiredly, rubbing her eyes. "I hope she has more success than us."

Umi turned to Honoka, touching her shoulder. "If there's anything we can do for you in the future, don't hesitate to ask. Again, thank you, and please take care."

"I will," Honoka grinned and nodded. She gave them a salute and gestured to her team to follow her, leaving the suite.

"Are you going to take a bath?" Umi asked, unbuttoning her shirt and opening her belt.

"No, I'm too tired, and I really don't feel like drowning in my bath after coming so far," Eli said, mustering up a weak smile. She looked around the hotel suite and let out a low whistle. "Too bad we have no time to enjoy this."

"Maybe once everything is over," Umi muttered, stepping out of her pants. "I'm going to take a short shower. Feel free to choose your bedroom first."

Eli suppressed a yawn. "I could fall asleep on the floor and not care."

While Umi headed to the bathroom, Eli walked to the closest bedroom and let herself fall on the king-sized bed, passing out the second her face landed on the soft pillow.

* * *

 

Though both hadn't slept for long, waking up at six in the morning, they felt refreshed and charged with new energy. Eli took her bath while Umi went through the morning news.

From what she had gathered so far, the first signs of the mass demonstration were starting to show. Half of the drivers working for public transport hadn't shown up to their early morning shift; many trains, metros and buses were standing still, people who had to commute to the cities were stranded at the train stations. Since it was still six in the morning, the amount of affected people was still assessable. Most of them managed to fall back on getting a lift from helpful people who drove with their cars anyways.

But some shops in the city which usually opened around this time stayed closed. Bakeries, cafes, kiosks; they all had their shutters down, which was an unusual sight for a city that was alive at all hours of the day. Public announcements which named the schools and institutions that stayed closed for today echoed in every local radio. Safety warnings were given at the end of each report on the demonstration, which had been dubbed as the 'New Equality Movement'.

The atmosphere in the cities had changed. People walked the streets with their gaze flitting around, wondering when and where the demonstration was going to break out. Some simply wanted to avoid the chaos, others were waiting for the moment they could join in.

All police forces had been positioned at possible venues for a demonstration. Wearing bulletproof uniforms and carrying guns on their hips, they marched through the city, keeping a sharp lookout on suspicious crowds of people.

"We will keep you updated about the New Equality Movement as soon as we have more information," the female newscaster concluded the report on the demonstration, shifting her notepaper. "Safety warnings for the demonstration have to be extended for our next topic. As we reported yesterday already, the case of Yuuki Sora's death has been reopened after his daughter, Yuuki Anju, asked the court to review it. Her petition has been granted; her claims that her father's death was a murder and not an accident will heavily incriminate Sonoda Umi, whom she stated as a suspect."

Lying on the couch up until now, Umi slowly sat up when she saw a picture of herself displayed on the large television screen. It was a picture taken at an event she couldn't remember, all she knew was that she had been uncomfortable about being in the spotlight after Kotori had announced their engagement. Her smile at the camera was forced, her eyes blank.

"Sonoda has not been captured yet after her heavy assault on four victims, one of them being Yuuki Anju. Two of the victims are still hospitalized. The police asks the public to keep their eyes open for Sonoda as she shows extremely violent and aggressive behavior. Do not personally engage her. Any hints on her whereabouts are to be reported to the police."

The picture of Umi was replaced by a picture of Kotori at an event. Unlike Umi, Kotori's smile was natural and dazzling, her eyes were sparkling. Umi felt her hand automatically reach out for the screen. "Kotori..."

"Minami Kotori, head designer of the luxury clothing brand Minami Diamond and heiress of the Minami Group, has not given a public statement about her fiancée yet. According to her lawyers, she does not wish to comment on Sonoda's case unless she is obliged to in front of a court."

The newscaster paused here, picking up a different sheet of paper. "She also refused to cooperate with the police on gathering evidence against Sonoda, denying them access to her real estate. At the current state of evidences, Yuuki's claims alone are not enough for the judges to sign a search warrant. But Minami's lack of cooperation sparked a nationwide discussion on whether she still has contact to Sonoda."

Umi's hands shook, her wide eyes fixated on the screen. "Kotori, no..."

A different picture slid in from the side, showing a blurred paparazzi photo of Kotori as she walked out from home, having four bodyguards shielding each side of hers. If it weren't for her bodyguards surrounding her, she would go under in the sea of paparazzis and news reporters who were trying to shove their cameras and microphones in front of her face.

"Let's switch to Morishima Nanaka, who is live in front of the Minami-Sonoda estate. Ms Morishima, what can you tell us about the speculations that Minami still has contact to Sonoda?"

Umi felt like being punched in her stomach when she saw the front side of her home. A home she could never return to anymore.

"Well, so far we cannot rule out this possibility. On the night Sonoda assaulted those victims and escaped, Minami was interrogated by the police right after. The only statement she gave that night was that Sonoda had acted in self-defense and was not to be held accountable for her actions."

"So it is Minami's word against Yuuki's?"

"Not exactly," the news reporter shook her head. "Yuuki's statement that she had been attacked by Sonoda first can be backed up by the three other victims who ended up being beaten when they came to save her. Their intervention alone foiled Sonoda's murder attempt."

"If I read the notes correctly, then Minami was at the scene of the crime too?"

"Yes, Minami was present too, but her judgment cannot be taken into account because of her obvious bias. As dangerous as Sonoda is, we also cannot exclude the possibility that Minami might be protecting her out of fear of retaliation."

Umi wanted to knock the coffee table over. The only one who had to fear retaliation was this news reporter.

"Then, Ms Morishima, can you tell us more about how the Minami family is doing? What is Minami Noriko's reaction to these recent developments, did she release any statements about her daughter's situation?"

"I'm afraid I have nothing new to report regarding the CEO of the Minami Group. She did not answer to interview inquiries, neither did she show willingness to comment on Sonoda's case. Today, she went to work as usual."

"Thank you, Ms Morishima," the anchor said with a nod, gazing at a point behind the camera. "We will switch back to the studio because we have just received the news that the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo has been occupied by a crowd of protesters. It seems that the New Equality Movement has begun. More repo-"

Standing up, Umi turned off the television. Her heart was pounding wildly, her throat was dry. She had scared herself with the one second of consideration she had put into surrendering herself to the police.

The Soldiers still had Eli and Maki. They didn't need her. But Umi needed Kotori. She wanted to see her, touch her, tell her that everything was going to be alright. She hated how there was a little part of her that regretted not letting Kotori escape with her.

"Umi?"

Fresh out of the bath, Eli walked into the living room with a towel wrapped around her body. When she saw Umi's hands shaking, she immediately marched over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

But Umi didn't reply, suddenly looking up with a torn expression, her mouth opening and closing like she couldn't get enough air to breathe.

"Umi," Eli grabbed her friend's shoulder. "Breathe. You need to breathe. Come on, take a deep breath."

Umi sucked in a shaky breath, gasping. "I'm fine. I'm fine..."

"What happened?"

"I -I saw Kotori in the news," Umi said, her voice strangled. "I ruined everything for her."

"Hey, don't," Eli whispered, squeezing Umi's shoulder. "We're going to figure something out once this is all over, okay? Kotori didn't let you go so you could give up now."

"I miss her," Umi choked out. For two days straight, she had not allowed herself to feel regret about leaving Kotori behind. She didn't have the time to. Between chasing Nozomi and being chased herself, she didn't have any emotional capacity left to worry about what had happened at the gala. But now, everything came to her at once, overwhelming her and numbing her mind.

"And she misses you too," Eli said. "Once this is all over, we'll find a way to get you two together again, okay? Come on now, take another deep breath. You need to stay with us."

Umi still struggled to breathe.

"Look at me," Eli whispered, and Umi's frightened eyes met hers. "You are one of us. You are a Soldier. We need you, Umi."

Umi was wrong. She was still needed. She was a Soldier and she couldn't leave her battlefield now that the war had begun. She couldn't leave her friends behind now that they needed to fight together more than ever.

Taking a deep breath, Umi's heartbeat slowed down to a regular pattern again. Her mind became clear. She slowly nodded. "You're right. Our mission is far from over. Thank you, Eli."

"Anytime," Eli smiled, relieved that Umi had returned to normal.

Umi sank down on the couch, covering her eyes with her hand. "I'm sorry. It's just...everything the news reported, it was so wrong and one-sided."

Eli sat down next to her. "I'm afraid that's nothing new."

"I know," Umi muttered with a pained grimace. "I wouldn't have cared if it was just me who took the damage. But Kotori...she had nothing to do with this but still got caught up in the fire. 'I should have burned alone', is what I thought. Because everything is better than seeing the news pulling our relationship through the dirt."

"Umi..."

"Only we know the truth but nobody else believes it. How long can Kotori stand alone against a nationwide opinion? If I could somehow talk to her, I would tell her to save herself because I'm not worth the struggle. But the selfish me wants her to keep fighting."

Umi buried her face in her hands. "I wouldn't even know how to face her if I saw her again."

"I'm glad you're thinking about this."

"Hah?" Umi looked up in confusion.

Eli gave her a small smile. "That means you believe in seeing her again. And that's the attitude we need if we want to keep fighting. We can only look forward now. Not that there's anything wrong with looking back, but we can't stay there and let ourselves get distracted."

Umi smiled. "So much wisdom. You sound old."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Eli chuckled, giving her friend a light punch against the shoulder.

"Ah, that reminds me," Umi frowned. "I didn't hear the news report anything about yesterday's police operation in which they had failed to capture us."

"I'm not surprised," Eli muttered, wiping her damp hair out of her face. "The police doesn't like to admit failures on their part and they will suppress any news of it if they can. But I don't think they can hold the silence for long, there were too many witnesses."

"It's probably just a matter of ti -"

Loud knocks on the door to their suite startled them. Umi instinctively reached for her gun until she realized that she wasn't carrying it on her hips. Her gun holster was on the nightstand in the bedroom.

Eli cursed, glancing down on her towel-clad body. There was no way she could fight like this.

"Would you open up already?" an irritated voice rang out from the other side of the door. "I kind of got my hands full."

"Maki!"

Umi jumped over the couch and walked to the door in great strides, opening it.

Carrying four large duffel bags in her hands, Maki entered the suite first before she put them down on the ground. The next thing she did surprised both Umi and Eli.

Maki pulled in Umi for a hug.

"Maki?"

The number of times Maki had hugged them could be counted on one hand. Umi didn't know how to react, and before she could return the hug, Maki had already let go of her, going to Eli next to give her a quick hug too.

Eli shared a confused glance with Umi over Maki's shoulder.

"You two," Maki muttered, letting go of Eli. "You almost got caught. I almost lost you. How do you think did I feel when I found out you went to do something so stupid by yourselves? How could you chase after Nozomi, knowing that one had been shot in the shoulder and the other hadn't slept in two days? Are you stupid?"

Realizing what this was about, Umi and Eli felt a soft smile tugging at their lips. "Maki..."

"I was pissed, okay?" Maki hissed, facing to the side and crossing her arms. "I didn't want to be alone again. How am I supposed to fight this battle by myself? Weren't we supposed to be a team?"

Eli and Umi shared a smile.

"Hey, Maki," Umi said lowly, "thank you. For caring. And we're sorry we did something so irrational. I guess the Soldiers only function if it's us three together."

"Yeah," Eli chuckled. "We're sorry. We won't do anything without you again."

"Well, no use in talking about the past now," Maki muttered, uncrossing her arms. That was her way of telling Eli and Umi that they were forgiven. "Anyway, I got you a few things."

She picked up two bags and handed them to Umi and Eli respectively. "I figured you would need fresh clothes. I took some from home. Hope the sizes are okay."

Accepting the bags with a grateful nod, Umi and Eli quickly opened them, eager to change into a clean set of clothes. They pulled out black shirts, black suit jackets and black pants. They looked up at Maki questioningly, noticing that her complete attire was in black too except for her red tie.

"I wasn't really feeling it today," Maki said with a shrug. "With everything that's going to go down, it might be better to wear something where blood drops don't stand out."

"I can't argue with that," Eli muttered.

Umi and Eli quickly changed into their new clothes, feeling satisfaction and new energy coursing through their body as they felt soft fabric nestling against their clean skin. While Umi chose a dark blue tie, Eli didn't feel like wearing a tie at all, preferring to keep the collar of her shirt open.

Once they were finished, Maki picked up the third bag she had brought. She pulled out three phones, three tablets, a laptop and ear pieces. "Koizumi had these delivered to me just this morning. They're all set up and ready to use."

Eli instantly reached for a new phone since hers had been broken at her last job.

"That reminds me," Umi frowned as she took a new phone too, "my phone was taken by the police when we were captured. I hope the data-deleting safety measure worked."

"It did," Maki confirmed. "I tried calling you last night, but it said that the number wasn't assigned. That means that the police had tried to crack your code but triggered the self-destruction program. Your old phone should be pretty much useless right now with no recoverable data on it."

"Our tech team is pretty amazing," Eli muttered as she inspected her new phone.

"Not only them," Maki said, picking up the fourth and last bag. "Our suppliers too. Rin dropped these babies off last night. Semi-automatic, 9mm. Our trusted brands."

Maki pulled out a large suitcase and opened it, revealing six new guns inside it. "Freshly imported from Germany. Nice grip, quick to reload and less recoil than the models we've used before."

Eli whistled lowly. "I wish we could train with these first."

"I wish we didn't need those in the first place," Maki muttered darkly.

Each of them took two guns and as much ammo as they could carry.

"Also, Rin thought some knives would be useful," Maki added, taking out military knives from the last bag. "Small and practical."

"This really feels like we're going into battle," Eli muttered, carefully touching the sharp blade of hers.

"Aren't we?" Umi asked. "It's us three against Nozomi."

"No, four," Maki corrected her.

Umi's and Eli's eyes widened in realization. "Did you -"

"Yes," Maki nodded, a rare smile on her face. "She's on her way."

"No," Eli whispered in disbelief. "How did you convince her?"

"I didn't," Maki answered, shaking her head. "I came clean with her. She was too shocked to say anything, so I got to explain everything without being interrupted. And then, when she finally spoke up, I thought this was it. I thought she was going to break up with me, shout at me, try to run away from me."

Maki exhaled. "But instead, she told me she would help. She said she understood the things I did even if she thought there had to be a better, less illegal way."

Stunned, Umi and Eli shared a look before turning back to Maki. "You married the perfect bride and yet we never got to meet her?"

"It's not my fault," Maki grumbled. "Even I hardly see her enough. She only has like one day in a month where she doesn't have to work."

Umi ran a hand through her hair. "This changes everything. Are you sure that she can do it?"

Maki nodded. "She contacted her manager and PR team last night. Everything will be ready before the blockade begins." She glanced at her watch. "If everything goes according to plan, she should be out on the sea already."

"Then we should get going too," Eli said, her tone grim. She checked up on her new guns. "We don't know how long Nico can hold them off."

"Do you think they'll start attacking?" Umi asked while fixing the straps of her holster so her guns would stay in place.

Maki stared at her friends with a tense expression. "Not if Nico can stop them. I believe in her."

"We believe in her too," Eli said, hiding her nervousness. If she showed uncertainty or doubt about Maki's plan now, the red-haired woman would falter and do everything to stop it. But that plan was their only choice left, they had no other option than to follow it through. Eli prayed to every higher being that Nico would succeed or Maki would never forgive herself for sending her wife to her death.

* * *

 

"How could that happen! Who gave that order without my permission?"

"It is unclear, sir. There is no protocol of this order. So far, three destroyers, two frigates and one patrol vessel have left their position. Judging from the direction they're navigating towards, they are heading towards Tokyo Bay and will arrive in less than half an hour at the current speed."

"Why am I only learning of this now! Why are we unable to contact the captains?"

"They do not respond to any kind of contact request, sir. It also seems that the surveillance team covered this up by not reporting the movement despite the radar giving the alarm when the ships left their position. We only found out when the United States contacted us after their stationary radars picked up irregularities, but even this message has been delayed by an hour."

"No...are you telling me that there are people of our own who are working against us?"

"I'm afraid it is so, sir."

"This is a disaster...In all my years in the Navy, I have never witnessed our soldiers revolting. If I can't sort this out, then I have failed as an Admiral. Get me Tedeza on the phone, I need an explanation for this chaos! Those ships were under his command!"

"I'm afraid he is not reachable, sir."

"What?"

"He is hospitalized right now and resting from a severe hit to the head. An intruder managed to overwhelm him in his own office yesterday."

"Impossible! No one unauthorized can get in or out of the naval base!"

"The surveillance cameras did not record anything out of the ordinary. The security guards did not report any suspicious visitors. We have no trace of the criminal."

"..."

"Sir, what's our next order?"

"We need to stop those ships at all costs. Dispatch all available units to intercept and block their path! But first send out some aircraft to get an overview of the situation. I want a full report on this in half an hour."

"Yes, sir!"

"And tell the task force to prepare for boarding ops! When worst comes to worst, we have to seize our own ships back if we want to keep the damage at a minimum."

"What do we do about the US, sir? They are demanding an explanation for the unusual movement."

"Argh, these Americans...you can't really tell them to mind their own business because that will only make them want to interfere more...Tell them we have everything under control. There's just been some mistake in our orders."

"Yes, sir."

"And one more thing. Pay attention to the reactions of the officers when you relay my orders to them. Every suspicious movement is to be reported to me, do not clue anyone else in. In a chaos like this, there's no one we can trust anymore. For something this huge to happen, our ranks must have been long ago infiltrated by inside men. Whoever organized this, we can't underestimate them because if we're not careful, it could be the beginning of a war."

–---------------------------

"A destroyer of the Murasame-class has been sighted, the coordinates are approximately 35°34'North, 139°52'East. At the estimated speed of sixteen knots, it will arrive at Tokyo Port in less than twenty minutes. According to these calculations, our ships will not make it in time to – to...”

“What’s wrong?”

“I apologize for the interruption, but a civilian ship has been sighted! It seems to be approaching the destroyer and two helicopters are following it! I repeat, a civilian ship – no, correction, three civilian ships are now heading towards the destroyer with two non-military helicopters above!"

"What? This can't be happening, what are civilians doing out there! I thought we already issued an evacuation warning for this area?"

"Those are not merchant vessels but yachts around the size of a patrol boat. There are people standing on the decks, and there seems to be some heavy equipment too."

"Weapons?"

"No...they look like...cameras."

"Cameras?"

"...and loudspeakers."

"Hah? What the hell is going on!"

\----------------------------

"Captain, what do we do about the three civilian ships ahead? Do we fire off a warning shot?"

"No, hold the fire. General Tojo ordered us to only attack when necessary. I need to know what these civilians want. Initiate contact."

"Yes, sir."

\----------------------------

"Erm, you know, Nico, I don't think I've signed up for this when I became your manager..."

Nico nervously swallowed, staring up at the nose of the large military ship that had come to a standstill before her yacht. The ground beneath her feet was already unsteady, and standing on a swaying boat with shaking knees was a new challenge for Nico, who had to act tough despite feeling close to fainting herself. She cleared her throat. "Q-quit your whining, I didn't know myself what I was signing up for when I got married, but you don't hear me complaining."

Her manager didn't reply, staggering to the back of the boat because the terrifying sight of a military ship towering over them made her want to release her stomach contents. Nico didn't have the time to worry about her, turning to the camera crew on deck with her.

"Is everything set up?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She felt cold sweat running down her back when she saw marines pouring out on the deck of the destroyer, wanting to see what kept them from moving forward.

The camera crew on deck with her consisted of two men who looked like they were ready to jump over board any second. They weakly nodded and tightened their grip on their equipment.

Nico looked left and right to the two other yachts flanking her sides where more of her camera team were stationed on. Unlike the two men on board with her, the other four camera men seemed to be almost unfazed by their current situation, more amazed that they got to see something so incredible from this close. They raised their fists in the air and jutted out their thumbs.

Nico pressed a finger to her ear piece, gazing at the helicopters above her. "Everything ready?"

"Everything ready. We will take positions now."

The two helicopters flew closer to the military ship before coming to a stop above it. The doors slid open, revealing cameras and loudspeakers inside them, secured with straps so they wouldn't fall out.

"Civilian ships, identify yourselves!"

The booming voice that the destroyer's PA system emitted almost knocked Nico off her feet with its overwhelming volume.

"Ouch," she hissed, sticking a finger in her ear. "How rude."

"I repeat, identify your-

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time, no need to be so impatient."

The marines on deck gasped when an even louder voice drowned out their captain's. That high voice seemed to surround them, it was coming from everywhere. They realized that the civilians had managed to set up a surround system of their own with the three yachts and two helicopters equipped with loudspeakers strategically positioned around them.

"I am Yazawa Nico," Nico yelled into her microphone, noticing that her knees had stopped shaking in fear. With her amplified voice as loud as someone of the size of a giant, she suddenly felt a hundred times braver than she really was. She raised her arm and pointed at the huge ship before her. "And I am here to stop you from stopping other ships!"

"Hah?" the captain's irritated voice blared from the PA system. "Who?"

Nico faced her camera crew with a scrunched up expression. "Wasn't I clear enough? I thought I was pretty clear. I practiced that line like ten times on my way here. Anyway," she brought the microphone in front of her mouth again, "Come on, is Yazawa Nico not ringing a bell? Ya-za-wa Ni-co. I sing and stuff. Did some movies too. I don't know how things are on the sea, but I'm kinda famous on land."

"It's really her!" some marines exclaimed in recognition, "it's super idol Yazawa Nico!"

Nico smiled in satisfaction, nodding. "That's more like it."

"I do not care for your status," the captain shouted, drowning out his soldiers' excited voices. "Remove yourself from our path and no harm will come to you."

"Ah, I thought you would say that or I would have brought them here for nothing," Nico triumphantly said, gesturing to her camera crew. "They're not just here to film me being fabulous but to live broadcast everything that is happening. You tried causing panic and chaos with a sneak attack, but we got you on camera. You lost your surprise effect and you won't get any further than this."

"Ha, and who will watch your pathetic attempt of stopping a navy ship?"

"Did you just call me pathetic?" Nico's brows twitched. "I want to let you know that you've just insulted me in front of ten million viewers."

"What?"

"You heard me, stop making me repeat myself!" Nico flicked her hair over her shoulder, turning to the camera closest to her. "Dear people across the country, this is a special report brought to you by Yazawa Nico. You usually see me singing and dancing when I'm on screen, but today, I want to bring a different topic to your attention. You will realize that several channels have interrupted their program for this report because it's too important for you to miss it. We have to face the truth together."

She faced the navy ship and the camera followed her line of view. "Around two hours ago, some ships of our country's Navy have left their positions to head for Tokyo Bay. All I know is that they're intending to cut off our supplies chains and block important trading routes so that Tokyo will fall in chaos within one week, being only the beginning of a nationwide catastrophe."

"Stop this non-sense!" the captain yelled, too loudly, causing the PA system to make a screeching noise. The marines cringed and groaned in unison.

"See what I'm dealing with?" Nico glanced at the camera with a frown. "Don't let a coward who doesn't even show his face make your life difficult. It's already hard enough as it is. Don't let a few idiots who think they know better ruin our country. I don't have the means to stop all of them, but if I can get you to understand what is happening, then I've done my part. It's your reaction that will decide the rest, not them."

"Stop!" Some rustling could be heard in the background and then it got silent.

"Is he trying to flee?" Nico muttered, unsure what was happening herself.

Suddenly, a gun shot tore through the air.

Nico jumped, looking up at the large ship. The captain had appeared, leaning over the railing to glare down at her, one arm still in the air after firing a warning shot.

"That was the first and last warning," he shouted, his voice less impressive without loudspeakers amplifying it. "I will not fall for your bluff. Now get out of the way or we will not care if you sink."

Something inside of Nico snapped. She had never faced death this close before and yet all she could feel was cold fury because it would be a death decided by someone else's hand. A fate decided for her, an ending she had no influence on. And the idea that her life could be over because someone else deemed her non-existence as more convenient made her stomach churn.

"Is that how you want to change the country? By murdering innocent people?" Nico's voice was quiet, grave. She had forgotten about the cameras, forgotten about the message she was supposed to send. "You think the system is rotten but have you ever thought about being a part of the reason why?"

"You don't understand anything," the captain spat. "Rich people like you don't even recognize your privilege! Don't talk to me like you know what this country needs when you don't even represent two percent of it."

"That is true," Nico calmly said. "But I used to be the fifteen percent that lived beneath minimum wage, so I do think I know what I'm talking about."

Now that she had stunned the captain into silence, she took the chance to speak without interruption. "It's not like I don't understand your rage. There are a lot of things wrong with our world and everyone seems to know that, but most people don't care enough to do anything about it since they aren't affected. And you just want to change that. I get that. I feel this way too."

If Nico's voice wasn't amplified by the speakers, the noise of the helicopters would have drowned her out. She wasn't shouting anymore, but her tone reached the captain and the marines more effectively than before. Her words had made them curious.

The captain lowered his gun, but kept a wary eye on her. "If that is the case, then stand aside and let us through."

Nico crossed her arms. "I didn't say I agree with your method of changing our country. What you're doing is nothing less than starting a war."

"If it's war that is needed to even the grounds for our plans, then we shall carry it out," the captain shouted. Behind him, his marines had become uneasy at hearing their leader declare the necessity of a war. That wasn't what their captain and their commander Tedeza had told them. No one had spoken of war. Just a tiny military intervention to put some pressure on the state for a better and fairer government.

Despite the distance, Nico could notice the change in the marines' behavior, they were becoming unsettled, starting to question their captain's sanity. And she knew exactly where to strike next.

"So is it worth it to sacrifice your life? Even those of your soldiers?"

With just one word, the captain shattered his crew's trust and loyalty. "Yes."

Furious outcries erupted at once and everywhere on the military ship, chaos broke out on deck. Nico could no longer see the captain as he was swallowed by the crowd of raging marines closing in on him.

"What's happening," Nico quickly turned to her camera crew, but they were staring at the scene with open mouths themselves, unable to give her an answer.

A voice in her right ear spoke up and Nico remembered the ear piece she was wearing, holding her hand against it to hear more clearly.

"He is unharmed," was the first thing that one of the helicopter pilots reported. "They have tied his hands and are escorting him back inside the ship. This could be your chance now, Yazawa."

Nico swallowed. She only knew how to win over people with her smile, but could she do it with her rhetorical skills?

"Proud soldiers of our Navy! You heard what your captain said, witnessed yourselves how he was willing to bet your lives on a game he could never win!" Nico shouted, feeling her heart pound faster. "But he isn't the only one caught up in a crazy game. You know that you weren't the only ones who were sent on this mission today."

The marines gathered at the railing, all wanting to get a better look of Nico as she spoke.

If Nico wasn't trained to sing and speak in front of crowds, her voice would have failed her in this moment. But she took a deep breath and made sure to speak clearly.

"More ships are on their way to start what your captain has promised – a war. If you really love this country, if you really want to protect the people – then this is your moment to prove it! Stop your fellow soldiers from making a mistake they are going to regret, they were also lied to and used! If they knew what you know now, they would also abort their mission."

Her words had stunned the marines. Nico could tell that she hadn't convinced all of them yet as some were frightened of being burdened with the responsibility of stopping a war from breaking out.

"You have family on land, don't you?" Nico yelled, frustrated that the marines weren't immediately moving to steer the ship away. "You have people you love and care about, don't you? When will you understand that you can't protect them once chaos breaks out? When will you understand that we don't need one more war added to our history books? We have suffered enough. We have lost too much. The last thing we need is a knife in our backs by our own people."

Frozen and quiet, the marines stared at Nico, who couldn't take their inaction any longer.

"Go, go, go!" she yelled, furiously gesturing with her hand, and it made them jump because she had shouted too close to the microphone, causing a shrill noise to tear through the air. "Locate the closest enemy ship and intercept it! We don't have any time, so move! Now!"

Her words finally stirred the marines into action; a new leader taking over the captain's role was quickly decided just as they had practiced in emergency simulations, and they split up to do their tasks. The turbines soon started roaring again as the ship slowly began moving.

The moment the nose of the ship was no longer pointed at her yacht, Nico suddenly felt her legs giving in and she sank to her knees, gasping for air.

"Nico!" her crew shouted in alarm, but she waved them off.

"I'm...I'm fine," Nico panted, "I just need to...lie down a little bit. Did we get everything on camera?"

"Yes," one camera man answered. "We made the cut just seconds ago."

"Good work, Yazawa," Nico's earpiece transmitted the voice of the second helicopter pilot. "We got everything on tape here too. But can I ask why we were chosen to do this job? Wouldn't a special force trained in negotiation be more suited for this task?"

"I don't understand everything myself either," Nico tiredly said. "All I know is that it was important to make this public. If they had succeeded in making a surprise attack, panic would have been the result on land because no one saw that coming. Nothing is scarier than the unknown, so we had to make that problem known."

Nico felt a head ache approaching. Too much was happening at the same time and just twelve hours ago, she had still believed that changing the world little by little was enough. But it wasn't enough, it was far from acceptable, and the years of fame and wealth had made her forget where she had come from.

She had gotten used to living in a bubble of privilege enveloping her, but it had burst the moment Maki had thrown the truth at it. And the truth was anything but pretty, it still terrified Nico to the point where she was doubting whether she had made the right choice by keeping the ring on her left ring finger. No matter what the reason, Maki had still lied to her, kept an entire alternate identity from her, and not just an identity with harmless consequences, but one where she would face several life-times of prison if she was ever found out.

Nico's hands still shook the thought of Maki being able to do the things she had confessed doing, but somehow, she would also be lying if she said she couldn't imagine her lover doing that job at all. There were times in their relationship where Nico had wondered how Maki's true past looked like, not believing the story of a simple girl who grew up with her mother. There were times where Nico had caught the detached look Maki gave other people, but after a blink of an eye, Maki's warm eyes were on her, gazing at her with so much adoration that Nico always believed she had seen wrong. Those eyes could never produce such a cold and empty look.

But somewhere in the back of her mind, Nico had always known that there was more to Maki's story than she had been told. She had seen the signs, but hadn't known what to make of them. She had pushed them aside and stamped them as her own delusions.

But now she understood. The first time Nico surprised Maki, it was just to wake her up with a kiss on the forehead after she had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV. But the reaction it got her was anything but cute as she had imagined. It was actually quite painful. Her lips were bleeding and her teeth hurting afterwards because Maki had instinctively headbutted against her mouth when she had felt something touching her.

Nico hadn't thought much about it back then, maybe she had really scared Maki or caught her having a bad dream. But after that incident, she couldn't help but notice that these jumpy reactions happened more often than not. Even when Maki had managed to control her reactions, not getting violent anymore when someone unexpectedly touched her, Nico could still see the muscles in her neck tensing. It made her wonder, what made Maki so tense? What caused her to behave like she was expecting someone to attack her?

And now she knew. Now she understood why Maki was such a light sleeper outside their own home. The smallest movement or tiniest noise would jerk her awake, which was why sleeping in hotels was anything but restful for Maki.

Nico still felt like she had trouble breathing. What did all of this mean for their future? They couldn't go back now. But they also didn't know where to go next. All Nico knew was that she wanted to go with Maki. But she needed more explanations, more time to process things, just more knowledge of Maki's other side that had been hidden from her.

How long would Nico be able to bear the thought of being married to an assassin? How long would it take for everything to sink in?

She didn't know, she just didn't know. She only knew she loved Maki today, but how was tomorrow going to look like? Was there even a tomorrow for them two together?

* * *

 

"Your wife's incredible," Eli muttered, turning off the tablet in her hands.

"Why do you think did I marry her," Maki said absently as she focused on steering her car through the crowded city streets.

"Be careful, I think I've seen some people on the street," Umi said, pointing ahead of them.

"I know, it's all because the demonstration is about to break out," Maki muttered. She cursed beneath her breath when she had to brake abruptly. "Shit! We're stuck!"

Honking and beeping filled the air, people exited their cars to get a better look of the situation only to curse loudly when they saw there was no moving on.

Eli pressed a finger to her ear piece. "What's blocking the roads, Koizumi?"

"Mostly people," a light voice filled Eli's, Umi's and Maki's ears at the same time. "Police cars have been seized by demonstrators and are used to block the main roads. Driving in or out of the city will be impossible by the time it's afternoon."

"But it's already impossible to move now," Maki groaned, hitting the steering wheel in frustration. "We can't waste any more time. Once Nozomi leaves the country, there's no hope of ever finding her because we don't have any international contacts."

"It won't happen," Eli shook her head, "Nozomi is not going to try and escape."

"Eli?"

"It's not Nozomi's style to run away from something she started herself," Eli said with a grim expression. "It's more likely that she keeps herself invisible while she's close by, watching over everything herself. Like a silent observer."

"That makes sense," Umi nodded. "But still, we need to move. And we might benefit from this chaos. It will keep the police busy and they will hardly have any forces left to give chase to us. The traffic situation is ideal in slowing them down."

Maki turned off the engine and pulled out her car keys. "Then let's run. We're not that far away from Eli's apartment anymore."

Umi turned to Eli. "Are you sure that visiting your apartment will give us hints on where to go next?"

Eli smiled weakly. "I'm not sure about anything anymore. But it's what my gut feeling tells me to do."

"Then let's go," Umi nodded. She unlocked her gun. "It's time to turn this game around."

 


	5. End The Reign

## \--------------------------  
END THE REIGN  
\--------------------------

 

"It feels unreal," Eli muttered, not daring to lower her gun as she walked from room to room to check if anybody else was in her apartment. "To do this in my own home."

"Everything that happened in the last two days feels unreal and you're only noticing that now," Maki replied, tucking away her gun as she felt no other presence in the apartment.

"So where do we start looking," Umi asked, frowning. "Nothing here has changed. And I doubt that Nozomi has come back since she left."

"I don't know, okay," Eli said, feeling frustration gnawing at her. "Right now I'm trying to hold myself together because I don't feel at home anymore in my own apartment."

Maki and Umi shared a look in which the former one raised her brow and nodded to Eli.

"I'm sorry," Umi gave in. "You're the strongest one between us so I sometimes forget that this has been the toughest on you."

Eli didn't reply, disappearing into her bedroom.

"We need to find Nozomi soon," Maki said quietly only for Umi to hear, "Eli's starting to crack."

Umi nodded with a worried frown. "Let's do what we can."

When Eli returned, her gaze was unfocused, her expression blank and her right arm was shaking.

"Eli!"

Alarmed, Maki and Umi walked closer to her when they noticed her holding a single tarot card in her right hand.

"This..." Eli whispered, raising her hand holding the card, "was on my nightstand."

Confused, Maki took the card from Eli and looked at it closely. "Justice. What does that mean?"

"That's the card Nozomi pulled when she read your fortune for the first time, isn't it?" Umi asked, remembering the detail of Eli's story on her first encounter with Nozomi.

Eli nodded and crumpled the card in her hands. "And I know where to find her now."

–-----------------

The New Equality Movement was no longer stoppable, the whole city had been brought to a standstill. No cars, trains or buses were able to drive in or out of the city. Every larger main street was filled with a demonstrating mass of angry people who could no longer bear to be silent in a system that never asked for their voices.

The police wasn't able to hold in the raging crowd, and some of their own people had abandoned their job to join the other side because they had seen themselves how colleagues and higher-ups had abused their authority to make decisions that only they benefited from. They had seen how some people were silenced so reports of corruption cases wouldn't see the light of day, had witnessed how other people were freed because they had too much power to be held in by the law. If not even the law could be trusted, then what did that mean for the entire country? Was there anything still fair and equal?

Nobody wanted to leave this as a question. They wanted to be able to answer to this with a convinced 'Yes'. And to make this possible, they had to fight for it now before they succumbed to the slow pace of their unexciting lives, falling into a slumber of ignorance and indifference. Now that they were awake, it was time to fight for a world that made them want to stay awake.

Years of pent up disappointment, frustration, anger and desperation, they all found an outlet today. Especially the younger generation was more furious than anyone else. Aside from feeling hopeless in an economic situation where a degree didn't mean much anymore, they were also constantly called passive and idle, and yet they were still expected to shape the future and keep the country stable. They had wanted to scream for years and now they finally had the chance to.

Their loud voices could be heard everywhere. Except for one place. One place that was farther away from the protesting crowds and offered the illusion of tranquility.

–-----------------

"It's so quiet here," Maki said, unintentionally whispering to fit her still surrounding.

"Well, it's a park," Umi muttered, glancing around with a suspicious gaze. She couldn't stay calm despite the quiet location. "Demonstrating here would have little impact."

Marching in front of them, Eli's eyes flitted left and right in search of the one place she was sure to find Nozomi. "Umi, Maki."

"Hm?"

"Let's split up."

"Hah?" Maki shared a confused look with Umi. "I thought you knew where that place is."

"It was a long time ago," Eli said, her jaw tense. "And this park is too large. If we split up, we can triple our chances."

"No, we're not going to risk it," Umi replied, "we can't be sure that Nozomi is alone."

"It's enough if I am sure," Eli countered, impatient. "Please. We don't have all day. And we're connected all the time, so the first one who sees her just drops a word." And the blonde tapped the ear piece in her ear to remind them of their way of communication. "We've got each others' coordinates on our phones. It's going to be fine."

Not pleased with the idea but unwilling to argue with Eli in a determined state, Maki and Umi slowly nodded. "Okay. Let's do this."

They split up to roam the park more effectively. They all would start at the south of the park and head north. Eli took the path that went through the middle of the park while Umi and Maki took the paths on the east and west side respectively.

Leaves were crunching beneath Eli's shoes as she stepped on them, and she would usually take the time to enjoy the sight of various colorful flowers and plants around her, but she couldn't see anything but her goal today.

She took out her phone and turned it off, then deactivated the tiny ear piece in her right ear.

"I'm sorry, Maki, Umi," she muttered, closing her eyes. "But this is something I need to do alone now."

She was almost there. She could already see the stone tables where chess players from every age group would regularly meet for a game. Three springs ago, Nozomi had also been sitting there, playing chess and reading fortunes for curious strollers on Sundays. Eli had been jogging past them and she wouldn't have looked back if she hadn't met Nozomi's eyes in that moment. So full of untold stories waiting to be heard, so full of wisdom waiting to be shared, so full of passion waiting to light up and burn.

Back then, it was the mysteriousness about Nozomi that had Eli intrigued. And it had become her doom.

Even now, Eli couldn't help but feel her heart aching at the thought of that woman, wishing to know everything about her while wanting to know nothing of her anymore.

"I know you're there," Eli said quietly when she had arrived at the familiar place. She took out her locked gun and placed it on a stone table, then distanced herself from it. "You can come out now. I want to know what you've been up to. You owe me that much."

She heard branches and twigs snapping as the sound of footsteps closed in on her.

"Do I really?"

Eli quickly turned around, eyes widening when she saw a male stranger appear from behind the trees.

"Who are you!"

The man bared his teeth in a grotesque smile as his facial muscles were completely stiff. "I didn't expect you to recognize me. Not even I did after that failed operation."

Despite not understanding the situation, Eli moved to run back to the table for her gun, but a gun shot made her stop. She turned around and saw three more men approaching her from the side, all pointing a gun at her except for one who had fired the warning shot in the air.

"It's been a long time, Ayase," the man with the plastic smile said. "You've grown beautifully." The corners of his mouth twitched. "But seeing you now, I do regret not having you killed along with your family."

Like a punch to her throat, Eli felt robbed of air and clarity, and she struggled to breathe and think clearly as she gasped, "Kasei?"

"No, not officially," the man chuckled. "Kasei Hideki died on the night you tried to kill me. But unluckily for you, I have seen that coming. And luckily for me, I have recognized it as my chance to disappear. Though it doesn't change the fact that you've killed off a good underling of mine. But his gambling addiction had gone out of control and I knew I wasn't getting my money back, so I suppose his life was a fair trade. Even if he didn't know of the deal beforehand. Oops."

"Kasei...you..." Eli forced herself to breathe but it felt like she was trying to inhale air with a knife in her windpipe. "You're still alive..."

"Thanks to you," Kasei said with a malicious smirk. "You gave me the perfect opportunity to disappear gracefully. It seemed that there were more people like your mother out there and I couldn't kill them faster than they appeared. You could say I was in a critical situation. But if I died, then nobody would care about what I did anymore. People become legends after their death."

Eli took an aggressive step forward and she immediately heard guns being loaded. She gritted her teeth. "I'll kill you. Again and again if I have to, and even then it won't be enough to pay for what you did."

"Nicely said," Kasei laughed hollowly, his facial features unmoving. "But I think I already paid enough." He pointed to his face. "When I disappeared, I needed a new face. And look at what happened to me instead. Of course, the responsible doctors are no longer alive now, but it's no consolation."

He faked a bored yawn and looked around. "So where is Sonoda? And Nishikino? Did they abandon you, knowing you would be dead weight to them with your obsession of finding Tojo?"

He knew she wasn't alone? He knew what she was really after? Eli's mind couldn't catch up, there were too many thoughts racing through her head and even more questions begging to be solved. She held the right side of her head and pressed her palm against her ear. "How...how did you know..."

"Oh, you need to be more specific than that," Kasei said, his smile as unnatural as the rest of his distorted face. "You want to know how I knew you were coming here? How I knew of your plans to kill me seven years ago? Or how I know that you're going to die before you can see Tojo again?"

"Nozomi," Eli breathed. "How do you..."

"Know her?" Kasei laughed. "I own her. I gave her life when she wanted death. I gave her meaning when she had lost hers. She might be called the 'General' by her chess pieces of followers, but she's no more than just a chess piece herself. After all, a General doesn't declare war but leads it, fighting in place of their superiors who decided the battle."

“Nozomi would never follow you,” Eli said through gritted teeth, refusing to believe a single word.

“You’re right, she probably wouldn’t have let me pick her off the streets all those years ago if she had known my real intention,” Kasei shrugged, his lop-sided smirk causing Eli’s insides to churn. “But she was useful while it lasted. Lately, she’s been causing far more trouble than she’s worth. And I think it’s all because of you, Ayase.”

Eli clenched her fists, her shoulders trembling as she forced herself to stay calm.

Kasei laughed. "I wouldn’t move if I were you or do you really want to see your family again that badly?"

"You bastard," Eli hissed, her fingers itching to reach for the second gun hidden beneath her suit jacket, but she knew that every sudden movement could be her last. She could still feel three men pointing their guns at her back, not hesitating to shoot her at Kasei's command. "Where is Nozomi."

"You're about to die and you have so many questions left, and yet you want to know where she is?" Kasei would have looked confused if it weren't for his paralyzed facial muscles that reduced the amount of expressions he had to one.

"I'm not going to die," Eli said calmly.

Kasei chuckled. "And what makes you so sure?"

Eli slightly turned her head to show him the tiny ear piece she had reactivated by pressing her palm against it earlier. "Because Umi never misses."

One gun shot and three thuds of heavy bodies consecutively dropping to the ground disrupted the peaceful and quiet air of the park.

"What?" Kasei shouted at seeing his men bleeding out of their heads. His beady eyes were the only features on his stiff face that could express his shock and terror.

In one swift movement, Eli pulled out her second gun and aimed at Kasei, ready to shoot him in the legs first when someone yanked her to the ground and kicked away her gun.

"Stay down, Eli!" It was Maki who had pulled her down. "The police is here. If they see you pointing your gun at someone, they're going to shoot you. Don't you remember, you're a wanted criminal now!"

"No, don't let him get away," Eli yelled furiously, struggling against Maki's hold on her, wanting to stand up and retrieve her gun. "I need to kill him! I need to kill that bastard! Don't let him run away!"

"Eli, no!" Maki hugged Eli tighter, speaking fast and low. "Listen to me, Eli, we don't have much time. When Umi shot those guys, the police was already on to us. Most of them are chasing after her now but the rest wants to get you as well. You need to stay calm until they lower their guns. They won't let you reason with them, the whole demonstration thing has made them paranoid and tense. They will pull the trigger sooner than you think."

Eli wanted to scream. She had been this close to getting all the answers, but now she was farther away from them than before. Kasei was gone.

"Stay calm," Maki muttered, still holding Eli down in the grass, "you've escaped them once. You can do it a second time."

"What do you mean by 'you'," Eli said, ceasing her struggling. "What about you, Maki?"

Maki smiled weakly, which Eli couldn't see. "We're Soldiers, we stick together, right?"

"Maki?"

"And being a Soldier comes with sacrifice," Maki muttered before she let go of Eli. "Stay on the ground, you hear me? Pretend you've got handcuffed behind your back. And don't run unless I say so." And Maki stood up.

"Maki!" Eli hissed, alarmed and confused, but she didn't go against her orders. She slightly lifted her head from the ground to see what was going on.

Four police officers were carefully approaching Maki with their guns raised while she openly showed them the palm of her hands to signal she was unarmed. Despite her cooperation, the police men were terrified because they had just witnessed three people getting killed by the same bullet. The victims had been standing next to each other in an even line which had made it possible for their killer to get them all in one shot, sending a bullet through the side of their brains.

"I'm Detective Nishikino of the 12th precinct!" Maki said. "Working undercover to find the suspect was my case. This is my arrest."

"Prove your identity," one of the police men shouted.

"I want to," Maki shrugged, "but how do I know that you're not going to shoot me the second I move my finger? Put your guns down first, I don't feel safe."

But the police men were reluctant to get rid of the only thing that gave them power and control of the situation. "Prove your identity first!"

"Oh, great," Maki sighed, "this is going nowhere. You guys are aware that you are four people against one, right? Even if you didn't have guns, you should be able to fight me or did you skip training classes during your time in the police academy?"

Her words scratched at the pride of the police men, and after sharing a glance with each other, they tucked away their guns.

"Now, your identity."

"Yeah, sure," Maki said, reaching inside her suit jacket. "Huh, where is it...just a moment, I'm going to take it off."

And in the instant Maki let her suit slip off her shoulders, she yelled "Run!" and flung her suit at the heads of the police men, obscuring their view for a short second.

Having been prepared for this moment, Eli jumped to her feet and sprinted off within the blink of an eye, running in the direction where she had last seen Kasei disappearing to.

"No! Tsuda, Sato, follow her!"

"I don't think so," Maki hissed. She rammed her elbow against the first police man's chest and kicked him in the back of his knee, making him fall backwards and land on the ground with his head first. The second man didn't get much further either, he was knocked out by a hard chop against the back of his neck when he tried running past Maki.

"Don't move!"

Maki slowly turned to the two remaining police officers, who were pointing their guns at her with shaking hands.

Not wanting to push her luck, Maki held up her arms. She had done what she could and now it was all in Eli's and Umi's hands to finish what they had started. Her solution wasn't ideal, but it was by far the most logical decision with the smallest amount of damage. And now she could only hope that it had been the right decision.

–----------------- 

Lack of sleep, emotional exhaustion, low physical energy – everything was coming together for Umi, whose breaths were getting shorter and shorter as she kept running, not slowing down even when she felt the muscles in her legs starting to protest. She knew she couldn't keep going for much longer, she had to find a crowd to disappear into soon.

Her ears perked up when she heard faint noises of shouting and chanting. She was closing in on a main street, which meant that there would be a mass of demonstrators. If she managed to reach them before her pursuers reached her, then she was as good as safe. The demonstrators were sensitive to uniformed people at the moment, which guaranteed that the police would be unable to follow her into the crowd.

Umi only needed to get to the main street, and she chanted that goal inside her mind to distract her from her burning legs. Just down this little side street and into the main one, and she would have managed to escape from the police once again.

But the thoughts that kept her running had also impacted her attention, and she didn't notice in time when a black van came to a screeching halt in front of her. The doors slid open and large hands grabbed her arms, pulling her inside the van. Umi tried shaking those hands off by twisting her arms out of their grasp, and she almost succeeded in freeing herself until a weird smelling cloth was pressed to her mouth and nose, making her dizzy in an instant.

Umi's slack body was pulled into the van, and the door was immediately closed. Desperately trying to keep her eyes open, she blinked rapidly but couldn't stop her vision from getting blurry and dark.

The things she could still register were so distant and subdued that she thought she was imagining them. Fists knocking on the windows of the van, some faint shouting of 'this is the police', the feeling of acceleration. She wasn't sure if that all had really happened.

Managing to open her glassy eyes one last time, Umi's last view was of brown hair and purple eyes before she succumbed to a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

"Fuck!"

Eli had lost him. Kasei could be anywhere and she wouldn't know. It was all in vain, Eli desperately thought. Maki's sacrifice was all in vain. Eli hadn't managed to catch Kasei, hadn't managed to get any wiser about Nozomi's whereabouts.

Her mind was still spinning from the things she had found out, refusing to believe the connection between Kasei and Nozomi. When Kasei said that he had picked her off the streets, what had he meant with that?

Nozomi had never wanted to share any stories about her past with her, and Eli hadn't probed, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to give her a childhood story either. But didn't Nozomi grow up in orphanages? Then how did she land on the streets where Kasei had discovered her?

Eli's breath stilled. She remembered Kasei's habit of strolling through poorer neighborhoods and having beggars and homeless people killed because he deemed them as an eyesore to the city. But some he had saved and given them a home because they had potential to be useful to him.

Had Nozomi been one of them?

But it still didn't explain why Kasei saved her or why Nozomi decided to follow him. Eli hardly believed that Kasei had any interest in Nozomi's radical goals to change the society for the better, neither was it likely that Nozomi would agree with Kasei's twisted views on life and humanity.

“Ayase.”

Eli startled when a voice rang out in her right ear.

“Koizumi?”

“Yes. I'm afraid we have some bad news.”

Despite thinking that bad news was the last thing she needed to hear right now, Eli muttered, “Go on.”

“We lost connection to Sonoda.”

Eli's face paled. "No..."

"We are already doing everything we can to find her, but the last signal transmission of her location was over five minutes ago."

Eli cursed loudly, shouting the anger off her chest and Koizumi let her, waiting until she was out of breath to continue.

"We are trying to get our access to the surveillance cameras around the place where we lost her signal, but chances of tracking her are low. The main streets are all crowded and the side streets have less surveillance cameras."

Sinking to a crouching position, Eli held her head in her hands, suddenly feeling too exhausted to even cry.

"First Maki, now Umi," Eli whispered, closing her eyes. "I can't do this without them. I can't do this alone."

"You are not alone."

Eli blinked in confusion, slowly looking up. Her eyes widened. "You..."

A hand was stretched out to her, and Eli warily stared at it.

"I don't expect you trust me after what happened last night. But maybe we can agree on a short cooperation where we both will benefit from each other."

"And what can you offer me that would make me risk it all?"

"Sonoda's location."

Eli stiffened. So that person was involved with Umi's disappearance. "Keep talking."

"When you escaped me yesterday, I spent all night doing research on you and Sonoda, but I found nothing. But then I extended my search to Yuuki Sora and I dug up some things I just couldn't explain. But you can. And if you give me answers, I can help you find Sonoda."

Eli couldn't trust her. But she had no choice, she needed to find Umi, risks be damned. So she accepted the hand still offered to her and let herself be pulled up until she was at the same eye level with cyan eyes.

"I believe we didn't leave a good first impression of each other, let's change that. My name's Toudou Erena. And I work for Yuuki Anju as her main bodyguard."

"How do I know that you're not going to betray us?" Eli said, her gaze hard. "You seemed very intent on locking Umi behind bars yesterday."

Erena didn't waver under Eli's piercing eyes. "I am the kind of person that stands to their words. And I am also the kind of person that hates to admit mistakes. So you can believe me when I say that I might have judged you and Sonoda wrong."

"Then prove why I should believe you. I can't afford to let you waste my time."

Pulling out a small folded note from her suit pocket, Erena unfolded it and handed it to Eli, who gave her a scanning look before she read the note.

"China – 14. India – 9. Bangladesh – 11." Eli looked up, knitting her brows. "What do these numbers mean?"

Erena's jaw tensed. "It's the count of people who died working for Yuuki Tecs in the year before Yuuki Sora's own death."

Eli glanced at the numbers again. "There were far more deaths than that."

"I know," Erena closed her eyes, the wrinkle between her eyebrows deepening. "Those are my estimates that I concluded from missing person reports and fatal accidents. But it's just the tip of the iceberg."

Eli gave the note back to Erena. "So what do you want to know."

Erena looked tortured as she didn't know where to begin. "Everything. Did Sonoda kill him because of these numbers?"

"You said it yourself, these numbers were just the tip of the iceberg," Eli said. "Outsourcing production to countries where labor is cheap is not an uncommon practice, but Yuuki Sora took it to a new level of slavery."

Erena's expression twitched, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Oh, you don't like the word slavery?" Eli raised a brow. "But that's exactly what it was. The workers, all coming from the underdeveloped land, were not paid. Apparently, their wage equaled the costs of their accommodation and meals that were provided for them by Yuuki Tecs. And those workers who had managed to flee and went to the police to seek for help were sent back. Yuuki Sora had the local police under his control with generous donations that would have been enough to pay the workers decently."

The more Eli said, the more Erena looked like she was in pain. But she didn't tell Eli to stop, nodding slowly with a grimace.

"The workers there were underfed, prone to diseases, and worst of all, easily replaceable. The sick ones were fired without hesitation and the defiant ones punished severely until they no longer had a voice to use for protest." Eli felt oddly reassured in seeing Erena's disgusted expression. "Do you understand now why we had interfere?"

"So it's true," Erena mumbled. "He was murdered...but for a good reason." She ground her teeth. "Shit, and I believed Anju..."

"Don't blame her," Eli said and received a surprised look. "She is also a victim of her father. Despite being raised by him, she showed true leadership when she took over his company. She sent supervisors to the factories abroad and cut off ties with the local police because she didn't see the purpose in those donations. Though she believed that the workers not getting paid was just a temporary bureaucratic mistake, she didn't hesitate to correct it and gave them a decent wage and a health insurance."

"Anju," Erena muttered, clenching her fist. "She needs to know the truth. We need to find her."

"No, we need to find Umi first," Eli said, "I told you everything I know, now tell me where she is."

"You don't understand," Erena said grimly. "Sonoda is where Anju is."

* * *

 

"Umi...Umi, wake up..."

A distant voice was trying to reach Umi, but she was barely conscious, feeling like she was trapped in a dream.

"Umi, wake up..."

"Mama?" she mumbled, trying to open her eyes to see who was calling her. Such a gentle voice, filled with so much warmth and love, it could only be her mother who was trying to wake her in time for breakfast. Had she overslept? But that book from last night had been too interesting to put down, Umi couldn't go to sleep until it was finished, even if it was on a school night.

"Umi..."

"No, five more minutes," Umi whispered, covering her eyes. "Please, don't turn on the light."

Maybe she could ask her father to drive her to school. If she asked nicely, he would surely say yes. Just yesterday, she had brought home her report card that had made him very proud because she was the best in her year. Maybe driving her to school this morning could be her reward. Maybe letting herself be spoiled just for today was okay.

But if she was still lying in her bed, then why was it so cold and uncomfortable? Where was her blanket and why did her neck hurt? She didn't remember falling asleep in a sitting position. Had she fallen asleep while studying? Then why didn't her parents carry her to her bed like they usually would do, why didn't they pull her blankets up to her chin and give her a good night kiss?

They didn't do it because they were dead.

And Umi suddenly felt like she was falling, falling down an endless pit, and she couldn't scream because her heart was lodged in her throat. The faces of her mother and father were fading, becoming fainter the longer she fell, and she was bracing herself for the impact, but nothing came to release her until -

"Umi!"

And Umi's fall had an end as she landed in reality with an abrupt crash. Gasping for air, her eye-lids fluttered open and she instinctively wanted to sit up, but something was restraining her movements. She looked down on herself to see that she was bound to a chair with ropes.

"Umi...you are awake..."

Umi's heart stood still at hearing that voice. She slowly looked up, not believing the sight in front of her.

"Kotori..."

Her fianceé, also tied to a chair opposite of her, cried in relief at seeing her. "Umi, you...I..."

"It's okay, I'm here now," Umi found herself automatically saying despite feeling panic eating her up from inside. Why was Kotori here? Who had brought them here? What place was 'here'?

"I thought you were dead," Kotori cried, tears rolling over her cheeks that she couldn't wipe away as her hands were tied behind the chair. "You weren't moving. And I couldn't hear you breathing..."

"No, I'm right here with you," Umi said hoarsely, feeling her throat getting dry.

Seeing Kotori again was everything she had wanted. But not like this, not in a situation where Umi didn't know whether they could get out of it alive.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out, feeling tears blurring her vision. "You shouldn't be here..."

"Don't, Umi," Kotori whispered, tear drops sliding down her jaw and chin until they dropped to the ground. "It's not your fault."

"But it is-"

"No, stop," Kotori shook her head. "I know you're going to blame yourself for this forever. But I don't even know if we are going to have a forever after today. So please, just...just let us be together for the time we have left."

"No, don't say this," Umi's voice was raw, shaking with fear. "We're going to make it. I promise, I'm going to get you out of this. I'll do anything to get you out of this."

"But what about you," Kotori sniffed. "Are you going to do everything to get us both out of here?"

Umi worked her tense jaw. She didn't know if she could guarantee the safety of them both. If there was only one she could save, then she knew who it should be.

"Don't say it," Kotori suppressed a sob. "Umi, I know you. But I don't want this, I don't want you to save me if you can't save yourself."

"But-"

"Oh, you're awake," a light voice interrupted them.

Kotori and Umi turned their heads to the door, the latter one growling when she recognized the person entering the room.

"Anju..."

"I saved you from getting arrested and this is how you greet me?"

"Under different circumstances, I might feel sorry," Umi said through gritted teeth. “Where did you take us?”

“I didn’t expect you to recognize this room as you’ve never visited all rooms of my mansion,” Anju sighed. “You never stuck around long enough to do so.”

Umi scowled. “Is this supposed to make me feel guilty?”

"You haven't changed at all," Anju said quietly. "Still so cold to me." She stepped behind Kotori and put her hands on her shoulder, which elicited a flinch. "You probably wouldn't even talk to me if I didn't bring your fianceé here to loosen your tongue."

"Leave her alone," Umi yelled angrily, struggling against the ropes restraining her. "This is a matter between you and I."

"It was," Anju said with an empty smile. "But I want to know who killed my father."

Umi clenched her teeth. "You already know that I did it."

Kotori's eyes widened. Umi forced herself not to look at her or she would falter.

"Oh, now you confess it?" Anju laughed hollowly. "But you see, I want to know who pushed him off his boat. And that was definitely not you." She leaned down and whispered close to Kotori's ear, "Because Umi was in my bed the night he died."

The ropes barely managed to hold Umi back from lunging at Anju. Kotori stared at the ground, frozen.

"No, Kotori..."

"So you want to deny it? What kind of fianceé you are," Anju said. "Minami, are you sure you still want to marry her?"

"Yes."

"Eh?" Anju paused, thinking she had misheard. "Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"I did," Kotori said quietly, slowly looking up. Her tears had dried on her face and she had no more to shed. "I'm aware that Umi had a life before she met me. And I don't expect to know everything about her because it's impossible, I can only learn the things she wants me to see. And that's okay. Because she let me see her heart while you couldn't see beyond her facade."

Speechless, Umi opened and closed her mouth, feeling her heart beating wildly. She needed to get them both out of here alive. She had to if she wanted to marry Kotori.

"You," Anju was visibly shaken by Kotori's words, "you're a fool for tying yourself to dead weight. Umi is a nationally hunted criminal now. She will never be free again."

"No, not if you take your charges back," Kotori said, looking up with pleading eyes at Anju. "If you tell the truth about what really happened at the night of the gala, Umi will be free."

"I - I can't do that," Anju turned away. "And she still is responsible for my father's death. You heard her confession."

Not knowing how to defend someone who had already admitted to murder, Kotori lowered her head and stayed silent.

"Thank you, Kotori," Umi spoke up quietly. Her gentle eyes met Kotori's. "Thank you for believing in me. All this time, I thought if I was strong enough I could protect you, but it's always been you who protected me."

"Umi..."

"Enough of this!"

Kotori screamed when she saw the gun pointed at Umi.

A sense of deja vu washed over Umi as she blinked at the gun that she recognized as her own. Anju must have taken it from her while she had been unconscious.

"Tell me, who killed my father. I want a name," whispered Anju, holding the gun with both of her hands. Her arms were trembling.

"No, don't," Kotori whimpered in fear, shutting her eyes.

But looking into Anju's eyes, Umi knew that there was one person even more scared than her and Kotori together. "You are not like your father, Anju. And you are not like me. You can't kill someone without killing your own soul."

"Sh-shut up! You think I won't do it?"

"I know you can't," Umi said. "If you could, I would be long dead. Even back there at the gala, I could feel you hesitating, waiting for something. You were waiting for me to stop you, the way you are now waiting for someone to stop you."

Anju closed her fingers around the trigger. "Just tell me a name...please..."

Umi felt the hair of her neck standing up when a cold breeze brushed her skin. She closed her eyes. "You are free now."

Before Anju could ask the meaning of her words, her mouth was clamped shut by a hand and her arm with the gun was twisted around.

"Sorry, kept you waiting."

Blonde hair appeared in Umi's vision as a military knife was used to cut through her ropes.

"Eli!" Kotori whispered in shock when she recognized Umi's best friend. Then she gazed at the other person who was still struggling to hold Anju still.

"Anju, listen to me," Erena said through gritted teeth, and Anju faltered when she heard her voice.

"Erena? What are you doing! Let me go, now!"

"I can't, I'm sorry," Erena muttered, managing to wring the gun out of her hand. She tossed it to Umi, who had just been freed.

Despite not really understanding the situation, Umi accepted it as it was and tucked her gun into her holster, knowing that her questions could wait. Getting Kotori out of this place was her first priority.

"Kotori," Umi breathed, not daring to believe that they were safe until they had left this place. She kneed in front of Kotori and touched her cheeks. "Hold on. Just a second longer."

Eli managed to cut through the ropes that had been tying Kotori's upper body to the chair, and she moved on to the ones binding her hands.

"Umi," Kotori smiled, a relieved tear rolling over her cheek. She leaned into Umi's touch, closing her eyes. "Please let me go with you from now on."

Eli stopped cutting at the rope and stared at Umi when she didn't immediately refuse. "Umi, you can't."

"I..." Umi swallowed, feeling her resolve weaken when she gazed up at Kotori's pleading eyes. "I..."

"Please," Kotori whispered, also turning to Eli with a begging look. "I know I won't be of much help, but I don't want to be alone anymore. I don't want to go back home when I don't know if Umi will ever return to it again. I hate not knowing where the people I love are."

Eli faced away, not able to hold Kotori's gaze. "I can't stop you from doing the things you've set your mind on." And she cut through the last rope binding Kotori.

Kotori dropped to her knees to fall into an embrace with Umi, pressing against her tightly. "Please don't leave me again."

Umi closed her eyes. "Okay."

Noticing that Anju had stopped struggling against her hold, Erena released her grip on her and worriedly looked up at her expression, realizing that Anju's eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "Anju!"

"You won," Anju whispered, "I'm going to take my charges back."

Umi and Kotori slowly stood up, not sure if they heard right.

"I was bitter, I was angry," Anju said so quietly they almost missed it, "but I wasn't blind. I knew my father wasn't a saint. I have seen the secret company records. It was no bureaucratic mistake that the workers in our factories abroad didn't get paid. It was no seasonal flu or virus that killed some of them."

She would have dropped to her knees if Erena hadn't caught her, managing to catch her fall. She slowly lowered her to the ground, where Anju stayed with her head bowed down. 

"My father inherited me the company because he wanted it to stay in our family, not because he thought I was suited to lead it. He only showed appreciation for me when others were there to witness it. This is why I loved being in the spotlight because he had no other choice than to treat me like a princess in front of the cameras."

Speechless, Eli and Umi were stunned to find out a different side of a story they believed had only one perspective. So Yuuki Sora's biggest weakness wasn't his daughter after all. It was his pride.

"Umi, I," Anju wiped at her eyes. "I sometimes saw my father in you. Detached and cold, only showing appreciation when you wanted something from me. And no matter what I did, I couldn't get you to love me because you had ulterior motives for putting up with me."

Umi cringed. It was the ugly truth and it was painful as well to hear it spoken out loud.

"I'm sorry," was all Umi knew to say. She knew she had hurt Anju, but she hadn't known to which extent. She had misjudged her, thinking that Anju would be able to quickly get over her because of her lifestyle that suggested shallowness. But a story always had more than one perspective.

"No," Anju shook her head, staring at the ground. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I wanted you to do the impossible. And when you couldn't, I directed all this hatred I had for myself at you."

She didn't elaborate, so Umi didn't know what she could mean with the impossible. The impossible of loving her?

"I'm sorry I couldn't be the one you needed," Umi whispered.

"And I'm sorry I couldn't be the one you wanted." Tear drops landed on the ground next to Anju's hands. "Please leave now."

Eli and Umi shared a glance in which they told each other it was time to go.

"Kotori, let's – Kotori?"

Kotori had crouched down to offer Anju her hand.

Anju blinked at her in her shock. "Why?"

"Because you looked like you needed someone believing in you too," Kotori said with a kind smile.

"I don't - I don't understand," Anju stuttered, "why would you want to help me?"

Kotori's smile had a hint of sadness when she said, "Because you had the same expression as me when you looked at Umi's unconscious self. You were scared that she might not wake up, I overheard you shouting at your men because of it."

Eli and Erena looked away while Umi couldn’t avert her eyes from Kotori.

Anju shook her head, squeezing her reddened eyes shut. "That doesn't mean anything -"

"Yes, it does," Kotori interrupted without force, her tone so patient and gentle that Anju opened her eyes again and tentatively met her gaze. "Why did you put Umi and me in the same room, why not in separate rooms where we didn’t know the well-being of the other? You never intended to use me to make Umi talk. I don’t even think you wanted to do this. But you wanted to prove to yourself that you still had control of the situation."

Anju couldn't return her gaze anymore, looking away in shame. "Stop..."

"I'm sorry about what happened to you that made you think strength means control," Kotori said quietly, reaching out to grab Anju's hand. "But once you understand that you can be strong without having oppressive power, you will be a lot happier." She smiled. "Come on, stand up now."

"Don’t do this," Anju sobbed, wanting to pull her hand out of Kotori's, "I don't want your pity."

But Kotori refused to let go, tightening her grasp on Anju's hand.

"Do I look like I'm pitying you?" Kotori said gently. When Anju didn't answer, Kotori stood up and pulled her up along with her. "I know there is nothing I can say to erase your guilt. But I do know a way for you to feel better about everything that happened. Are you willing to listen?"

Anju wiped away her last tears and nodded. "I will do anything."

Kotori smiled. "Then I've already got a favor to ask you for."

–----------------- 

"Yazawa has successfully stopped two more ships and convinced their crews to abort their mission. But we have lost contact to her since her last broadcast and now we don't know her current location."

Eli impatiently paced up and down the large living room of the Yuuki mansion. "I still don't like the combination of telling good and bad news together."

"I have more," the voice in her right ear said unsurely.

Eli stopped pacing, frowning at a real-life-sized painting of Yuuki Sora that hung on the wall. "Good news or bad news?"

"Er, important news."

Eli sighed, starting to pace again while she wondered what it took so long for the others to return. "Go on."

"The Equality Movement is threatening to overheat. We have increasing numbers of injured people, and amid the chaos, some are using the opportunity to break into empty shops and homes."

"Please tell me you're going to follow this up with good news."

"Actually, yes," Koizumi sounded relieved. "According to insider information, the government has never been under such pressure before and they are already working on a list of concessions. This list will contain lighter taxation of the middle and lower class' income and more financial investment in the education of children from socially difficult backgrounds. Those are only two exemplary improvements of many to come."

"Then it's working, our plan is working," Eli said, feeling her shoulders become lighter. "If the government is smart enough, they will announce these plans before today is over."

"Yes, that would be the most rational decision," Koizumi agreed. "The economical damage today will be huge, but still within a recoverable dimension. It is the international reputation that will take a lot longer to restore if everything isn't solved soon, which is why we can expect a change of events in the evening."

"Very good," Eli breathed out, but her pulse didn't slow down. "Until then, please do everything you can to find Nico. We absolutely cannot allow anything to happen to her. I just hope the missing signal has something to do with her being too far off from land."

"Leave it us."

As reliable and competent their information technology team was, Eli's nervousness about being able to find Nico remained. If something happened to her – Eli shook her head, not wanting to let herself sink in negative thoughts. Nico was going to be fine. Which meant that Maki was going to be fine.

"Eli." Umi entered the living room alone.

"Where are the others?" Eli asked with a frown. "What are they doing?"

"Preparing," Umi said curtly. "But you and I, we need to talk. About what happened in the park."

Eli faced to the side. "There's not much to talk about. I already told you everything that happened.”

“Not quite.” Umi took a step closer to the blonde. “Maki didn't sacrifice herself to let you keep lying to us. Why did you deliberately split us up?”

“Does it matter? We have other problems right now, like Kasei still being alive,” Eli growled. “You saw him, you saw how he dared to show up in front of me and-”

“I did, and that makes your decision even worse,” Umi interrupted, and her expression got darker, “you were in there alone. If you hadn't activated your signal again, we wouldn't have gotten to you in time. And you didn't receive our message that we were already followed by the police.”

Eli gritted her teeth. “Doesn't it matter to you the slightest that Kasei is still alive? All these years, we thought he was gone for good. And now he's fucking back. But you don't seem like you care at all, instead getting all angry at me. Did you forget what he has done to us? Did you forget who killed our parents?”

“You know that's not it,” Umi raised her voice in anger, not wanting to be reminded of her parents' death, “I want to send a bullet through his twisted brain just like you do, but his death isn't worth your life. Why did you turn off all your devices, why did you go in there alone? What were you thinking?”

"I wasn't, okay?" Eli hissed, aggravated. "I really thought Nozomi would be there. And I wanted to end things the way they had started, just the two of us."

Umi shook her head. "You're wrong. This thing has started long before you met Nozomi. And either with or without you, she would have found a way to set her plan into motion."

"But I was still in the picture," Eli replied, her expression tortured. "And I can't erase myself from it. I can't escape from responsibility unless I die."

"I don't want to hear that," Umi said grimly. "We swore to dedicate our lives to protecting the weak ones. This is why our death wouldn't just mean the end of our lives but also the end of countless others. And fighting for them is a responsibility we decided to take when we became Soldiers. If you're backing out of it now, then you are disgracing us, disgracing Pai who took the responsibility of protecting us."

Umi brought her fist to her heart. "Don't forget where we came from. Don't forget that we had been the ones too weak to fight for themselves. We had to be protected until we were able to fight ourselves, and now it's our turn to fight for the next generation."

A weak chuckle as her only response bewildered Umi, whose serious expression faltered. "Eli?"

The blonde shook her head, her lips curved in a smile though her eyes were screaming in pain. "You're only able to say all that with a straight face because you got Kotori back."

Frowning, Umi wanted to ask the meaning of Eli's words when Anju and Erena entered the room, the latter one carrying a laptop.

"Minami is still trying to initiate contact to the control center of the Minami Group Tower," Erena announced as Anju grabbed a remote control and turned on her large television, changing the media input to an external channel. It instantly mirrored the screen of Erena's laptop. "The people there might be able to track the place of the caller who had redirected their call through the Minami Group office number."

Eli turned to Umi with a questioning look, who clarified, "We're trying to find Nozomi by tracking the original number that had called us yesterday evening."

Instantly alert, Eli straightened her shoulders and walked closer to the television, narrowing her eyes when the screen turned black for a second before it showed a new picture. Eli quickly realized that this wasn't a picture, but a live transmission of the inside of a control center. Rows of monitors on desks filled the room and all four walls were large screens themselves. People typed non-stop on their keyboards without averting their attentive eyes from their screens.

"Connection established," a neutral voice could be heard in the background.

"Yes, I can see it," Kotori talked into her phone as she joined the others in the living room. "I can see the control center now. Can you please show me where you are, Kirihara?"

A short woman wearing a headset stood up in the middle of the control center and gave a hand signal before she sat down at her work desk again. "We have one of our supercomputers tracking the number right now, so it should be only a matter of seconds until we can decode and break the protection wall."

Erena let out a low, impressed whistle. "Minami Group does not joke around with cyber security."

"It's because we have the first full-automatic clothes manufacturing plant in the world and it requires very little human intervention. Most of the production is coordinated outside the factories," Kotori said, getting into her business mode as she gestured to the television screen. "It guarantees a better quality for a lower price, and most important of all, no exploited workers. But because everything is steered from outside, it is also likely to be attacked from outside. We regularly encounter cyber attacks with the goal to steal our data or manipulate it."

Just as she finished explaining, Kirihara spoke up again. "Ms Minami, we've got it."

Eli and Umi tensed up. Erena and Anju shared an unsure glance.

"The address is -"

The television screen turned black and the audio was cut off. The living room became completely silent as no one could comprehend what had happened, looking at each other in confusion.

"What's going on!" Eli turned to Erena, who helplessly shook her head as her laptop screen had become black as well. They had lost connection to the control center in the Minami Tower.

"Kirihara?" Kotori called into her phone, but no one answered. The line was dead.

Umi walked to the television with the intention of checking the connection of its cables when the screen suddenly flashed, coming back to life.

"Hello again."

Kotori's phone slipped through her fingers and shattered on the ground. "Isn't that...?"

"Oh my god," Anju gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

Umi's head jerked to Eli, who was frozen still. 

"I've been waiting for you," Kasei smirked into the camera. But it wasn't his distorted face that made Umi's blood run cold. "I've been waiting for you to try and track Tojo. And congratulations, you’ve found her!"

Behind him, Nozomi lied on the ground unmoving, her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound together. Her clothes were dirty and ruffled, most likely from struggling against her restraints on the ground. No obvious injuries could be spotted, but it was unsettling to be unable to see Nozomi's face that was covered by her long dark hair. She seemed to be unconscious.

"You bastard!" Eli screamed, wanting to smash her fist against the screen but Umi managed to hold her back.

"Eli, no," Umi struggled to keep Eli away from the screen, and Erena came to her help, restraining the blonde's arms.

Kasei neared the camera, cupped his hand behind his ear and mockingly said, "I can't hear you. What are you saying?"

"Let me kill him," Eli panted, her resistance against Umi and Erena weakening. "Let me shoot him..."

Kotori covered her eyes as she couldn't watch anymore while Anju kept staring in horror, unable to look away.

"Since I can't hear you but you can hear me, let me suggest a solution we can both agree on, not that you have much of a choice," Kasei said, a cruel smile forming on his lips. "Let's play a game. You, who call themselves Soldiers, against me and my own army. Winner gets to claim Tojo's pathetic life. Loser dies with her."

Eli had stopped struggling against Umi's and Erena's hold. No one dared to move, breathe or blink.

"She has no use to me anymore," Kasei shrugged. "Her ideas were amusing and entertaining at best, but her views were so righteous it was sad to listen to them. She actually believed she could change this rotten world for the better when she should have realized that it can't be saved anymore. That's where our path divided."

Kasei walked over to Nozomi's body and turned her on her back by shoving her shoulder with his foot.

Eli let out an outraged shout, feeling herself about to burn up in fury and frustration. There was absolutely nothing she could do other than watch, and it killed her.

"She tried to defy me and ruin my plans after all I did for her. Can you believe that, she tried to betray me and she thought she could fool me. I almost killed her but I guess she still is of some importance to you if you want to know so badly where she is, which makes her not that worthless after all."

Kasei gestured to someone behind the camera and the image moved, turning 360 degrees to show the entire surrounding. They had to be on the rooftop of a skyscraper as mostly cloudy skies and the spires of neighboring skyscrapers could be seen.

"Let me explain how this game works," Kasei said, his beady empty eyes staring straight into the camera once it had returned to its old position. "I am on top of the Kasei Tower which was named after me to honor the legacy I have left behind in this city. As for now, it is mostly empty because your stupid idea of a demonstration has infected the workers with the belief that a little bit of marching on the street could improve their pathetic lives."

His scornful look deepened as he continued, "I have around fifty men in my building, waiting for you. If anyone of you manages to get to the top alive, I surrender and give you Tojo's life and mine. But if all of you die before you reach me, I will send her along the same path."

He stretched out an arm and gazed at his golden watch. "You have half an hour. If you don't show up by then, I will put a bullet through this useless puppet myself." His eyes fixated on the camera again. "Let's see what you can really do, Soldiers. Our last game begins  _now_."


	6. Last Campaign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The city is in chaos, time is running out. Only two Soldiers are left and they have no trump cards up their sleeves anymore. 
> 
> The game is nearing an end and it might have no winner at all.

 

## \-------------------------  
LAST CAMPAIGN  
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" _Let's see what you can really do, Soldiers. Our last game begins now."_

_\---_

"Eli, no, you have to listen-"

"There's no time for this," Eli shouted, dodging Umi's hands that were reaching for her shoulder. "You saw everything yourself, how can you still expect me to stay still and listen? I'm tired of listening, I need to get moving now!"

"But we can't just storm into his tower without a plan-"

"How often do I need to repeat that there's no time for this!" Eli snapped. "We've got to move  _now_."

"Eli," Kotori whispered, just as shaken as Eli from seeing Nozomi unconscious on the ground. "It could be a trap. He wants you to storm that place without preparation."

"She's right." Umi gave Kotori a grateful look. "This isn't a game we should be playing."

Eli let out a hollow laugh, turning away from Umi. "No, this is a game  _you_ shouldn't be playing. But I have to. I need to. And I don't care if you're with me on this or not, but I'm going, so don't try to stop me."

The blonde moved towards the door, but halted when someone shorter than her stood in her way. Someone she hadn't expected to stop her with a defiant stare. "Yuuki?"

"How do you want to get there?" Anju asked her. "How do you want to reach the Kasei Tower from here within thirty minutes? It's in the inner city and you know that all the main streets can't be passed by cars anymore."

Eli stared at Anju, tense. "Why do you care? Are you asking me these things to mock me?"

"No." Anju crossed her arms. "You're going to make the same mistake that I did. You're too blinded by hatred and rage that you don't even think anymore, just wanting to get your revenge because you believe it will release you. But it won't. It will consume you and destroy you. Along with the people who matter to you."

Despite still talking to Eli, Anju's gaze shifted to Umi, and her eyes filled with sadness. "Can't you see that Umi is just trying to keep it together for you? I never got to see that look that she gave you and Minami. So you better recognize your privilege."

As Eli turned around to face Umi, the latter one avoided her eyes.

Anju's words echoed in Eli's mind as she caught a glimpse of the worry and hurt in Umi's eyes. Anju wasn't wrong.

It was a thought Eli had before, and she couldn't help wondering if she was the one responsible for it, but sometimes when she looked at Umi, she didn't see a healthy woman in her mid-twenties. She saw a soldier who had been in service for tens of years, whose eyes were drained of optimism and faith by the daily war they were stuck in. Those eyes wouldn't widen in shock or fear, they wouldn't narrow in rage, they wouldn't blink rapidly in confusion or leak any sorrowful tears. They processed the things they saw with a detached look, showing nothing but indifference.

But right now, they showed pain and fear.

Umi was just as scared as Eli.

"I..." Eli ran a hand through her messy hair. "I'm sorry. I know we promised to each other not to do things alone anymore."

"I don't blame you for how you reacted," Umi said quietly. "You must be close to losing your mind right now."

"I am," Eli breathed, holding her head. "Nothing I thought I would know was right. And I don't even know how to separate truths from lies anymore, and that scares me. I'm scared that even if I manage to survive and see Nozomi again, that nothing is like what it is and that she will betray me a second time."

"I don't think that Nozomi is that kind of person," Kotori spoke up quietly, unsure if Eli wanted to hear her opinion. When she wasn't rejected, she continued carefully, "I didn't get to meet her often during work, but we did have lunch together a few times. I could feel her hesitance to get closer to me. At first I thought she didn't like me, but she sometimes initiated contact with me before she shut off again, like she remembered she wasn't supposed to talk to me. Something was hindering her from opening up to me."

Kotori shared a concerned look with Umi. "In those moments, I wondered if she was afraid of becoming friends because she wanted to avoid the possibility of me betraying her trust someday. But now I realize that this was how she protected me from herself."

"Nozomi," Eli whispered, clenching her fists. "Why are you doing this to us...why couldn't you just say you needed help..."

"Because she is more similar to you than not," Umi said, and those familiar words made Eli flinch. "She thinks this is a battle that she has to fight alone. Just like you do." Umi put a hand on Eli's shoulder. "But you are both wrong. This is a game you can't play alone."

Umi gazed at Anju. "Can we ask you for one more favor?"

"I was waiting for that question."

* * *

"Are you sure, Anju?" Umi asked as they stood before the entrance to a large underground garage. "We can't promise to bring them back in one piece."

"That's okay, most of the vehicles in there were my father's and I don't care about what happens to them," Anju said, and she placed her hand against a security scanner. It flashed with green light, and the garage gate slowly slid open.

Under any different circumstances, Eli and Umi would have been impressed with Yuuki Sora's large collection of vehicles, but little time didn't allow them the luxury of standing around and marveling at the cars and motorcycles in the car park. They marched straight towards the motorcycle section and mounted on a sports bike each.

"Umi," Kotori called out before Umi could put on a black helmet.

"Kotori?"

Kotori took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes before she kissed Umi on the lips. "Promise to come back."

Their foreheads touched when Umi leaned in, whispering against Kotori's lips, "I promise to come back."

Kotori pressed one last kiss against her cheek before she walked backwards away from her, knowing that her presence would only make it hard for Umi to leave. No more words were needed between them.

Umi clenched her teeth and put on her helmet, pushing the tinted visor down. She gazed at Eli, who had already started the engine of her bike. The blonde nodded, her voice muffled inside the helmet, "Let's go."

"Wait!"

Erena ran into the garage with seven men behind her.

"We're coming with you."

"No," Anju breathed at the same time Eli and Umi pushed up their visors. "What? Why? This is not your battle."

"It is now because I decided to join it," Erena said firmly, and she nodded to her men, who walked up to the motorcycle section and mounted on the rest of the sports bikes. "Do you really think that you two alone can win against a fifty men army?"

Eli shook her head in frustration, "This has nothing to do with you, we don't have time to convince you to -"

"That's right," Erena said, and she swung one leg over a silver sports bike. "We don't have much time left for arguing. Just accept that I'm helping you to live long enough to see Tojo again."

Once Erena had put on her helmet, Eli and Umi understood that she was serious about her decision to join them, and talking her out of it would only be a waste of time. "Fine. But this is nothing like what you do on your job."

"I know," Erena's muffled voice rang out, almost impossible to hear amid the engine noises of the motorcycles. "But it's time to protect those who really need it."

Ready to drive off, Erena almost accelerated when she realized that Anju was standing in her way, right in front of her bike with her arms spread out.

Anju's mouth was moving but her words were drowned out by the noise of ten motorcycle engines roaring in the garage. Tears were leaking from her red eyes, and she was shaking her head in desperation.

Even without her voice reaching them, her message was unmistakably clear.

But Erena shook her head, rolled her bike backwards and accelerated past Anju and out of the garage without looking back. Erena's men followed her, and seven more bikes sped past Anju, who slowly sank to her knees and hands and started sobbing. Kotori hurried to her side.

Eli bit her lip, silently apologizing to Anju as she drove past her and followed the others.

Forcing herself to look away from Kotori, who was comforting Anju, Umi took a deep breath and accelerated, leaving both behind.

She was going to come back. This wasn't a final goodbye.

* * *

All the larger main streets were still blocked by crowds of demonstrators. Getting into the city was only possible through side streets, but most of them were too narrow for a car to fit in, which was why Eli and Umi had opted for motorcycles without long discussion. Though motorcycles weren't usually their first choice when it came to vehicles, they had trained for situations like these; they wanted to be prepared if there was ever a case they only had one specific type of transport to rely on. Their other skills included sailing boats and flying helicopters.

Ten super bikes raced through the narrow side streets of Tokyo City and left behind dust and dirt whirling up in the air. No police came to stop that group from driving twice as fast as the speed limit allowed. All forces were used up in keeping the New Equality Movement in check, which made it possible for Eli, Umi and their allies to arrive at the Kasei Tower within minutes.

Eli caught herself thinking about smashing through the glass entrance doors with her bike as she neared the building of their destination. Her pulse quickened, and breathing got harder as she looked up, trying to gaze up the Kasei Tower and see the top of it, wondering if Kasei was watching her.

"Eli!"

She barely heard it, but Umi's muffled yell made her look on the street again, and she pulled hard at the brake handle, getting almost thrown off her bike over the handlebars when it stood on its front wheel for a few seconds. But gravity pulled the bike's rear wheel back on earth, and the suspension cushioned its crash on the ground.

"I'm sorry, did we surprise you?"

Eli took off her helmet, revealing her stunned expression. She got off her bike and walked towards the reason she had to brake abruptly.

Four black vans had parked in the middle of the street, parallel to the large entrance doors of the Kasei Tower. Out of those vans, around twenty people had poured out. And among them, two familiar faces.

Eli shook her head in disbelief. "Did Koizumi send you?"

"Nah," her opposite said with a grin, "I thought about what you said, and I don't want to leave the dirty work to you anymore. I want to help. So I asked Hanayo where you were."

"Honoka!" Umi called out after having just taken off her helmet, her messy hair falling into her face. She absently ran a hand through it as her stunned gaze shifted to the person next to Honoka. "And Rin! What are you doing here?"

"I want in on the fun of course," Rin said with a laugh. She repeatedly threw something resembling a grenade in the air and caught it leisurely. "I heard all about it from Honoka and I think she's right. Starting today, the Hoshizoras won't just supply you with weapons anymore, but also with all the help you need. I brought nine of my best fighters."

She gestured to the people behind her, who were all two heads taller than her and twice as broad.

"I did too," Honoka said proudly, "but I see you've recruited some allies as well?"

She curiously watched Erena and her men approaching the group.

"I-" Eli was overwhelmed. She turned to Umi, "This is getting out of control, we can't get more people involved-"

"No, this way we slowly gain control," Umi countered. She pointed to the Kasei Tower. "We only have minutes left. But with this many people, we actually have a chance of winning. What do you want more, see Nozomi again or let her die because you were too noble to accept help?"

"Give it up," Erena said behind her. "We're here because we want to be."

"Also," Honoka shoved gas masks into Eli's and Umi's hands, "it's too late to argue now. Rin brought her favorite toy."

Umi stared at the gas mask in her hands while Eli watched in disbelief as Rin pulled out a portable machine gun out of the van.

"What are they-"

"You'll see," Honoka said cheerfully.

And Rin started firing at the glass doors of the Kasei Tower. She was yelling in excitement, barely able to keep the machine gun under control from the hard recoils, and she was aiming left and right until she had shattered all the glass, leaving only empty door frames.

"Hanayo told us about the situation," Honoka felt the need to explain as Umi and Eli stared wide-eyed at Rin, who grinned in satisfaction when she exchanged the machine gun for the grenade-like object she had been throwing up in the air earlier. "Storming in there without a plan means certain death. Alone the first floor will have a lot of enemies. And this is why we need to smoke them out first with tear gas."

Rin stretched her right arm and moved it in circles, her focused gaze was locked on the shattered remains of the glass doors. Then, in one swift motion, she pulled out the lock of the tear gas grenade, swung her right arm far back and hurled the grenade inside the entrance hall of the Kasei Tower. It was set off instantly, the hall was quickly filled with white smoke, some of it was wafting out through the entrance. And amid the clouds of stifling tear gas, three men stumbled out of the building, coughing and spluttering violently. They fell to their knees and fought for enough air to breathe.

"Don't kill them," Umi said, holding up an arm to stop a man near her from aiming his gun at the defenseless men. "We don't know their stories. And they have no means to harm us anymore, so let's keep the bloodshed to a minimum."

"Then we need more people to take care of the men who try to leave this building," Eli said, "and we absolutely can't let anyone else near this tower. We need to secure this place."

"Leave it us," Erena spoke up, nodding to her men. "That is something we know how to do in our sleep."

"Good, then it's time for Umi and I to go," Eli said, about to put on her gas mask when she noticed Rin, Honoka and their gang members copying her moves. "What are you doing?"

"Let you have all the fun while we play bodyguards?" Rin's muffled voice rang out behind the gas mask. She pulled out a gun from a holster around her hip and unlocked it. "Not a chance."

Honoka adjusted the mask on her face as she said, "Let's get going. Tsubasa managed to hack the elevator system and she can guarantee us to get to the top without being stopped."

Without waiting for a reply, Rin and Honoka stormed into the entrance hall that was still foggy with tear gas, and their men followed them without hesitation.

Realizing that they were serious about fighting along with them and that this was their best chance at surviving, Umi finally pulled on her gas mask. "Eli, move!"

They ran right into the unknown, unable to see far in the white mist, but Honoka's voice guided them to their location.

There were three elevators next to each other and their doors opened simultaneously. After splitting up and getting into them, the doors closed on the same time again and the elevators started moving.

Eli and Umi moved to pull off their gas masks, but Honoka and Rin stopped them.

"Even if you can't see it, some of the tear gas has gotten inside here too," Honoka explained. "You will choke on it."

"Only take them off once we get out," Rin added.

It was stifling in the mask, and Eli was already short on breath with the tension welling up in her chest.

She was going to see Nozomi soon. She just didn't know in what kind of state.

The elevators stopped. They had arrived at the highest level.

"Quick, let's get out," Rin pushed Umi and Eli out of the elevator. They all pulled off their gas masks and let it hang around their necks.

"Tsubasa will shut off the entire electricity supply for this tower in less than-"

Before Honoka could finish her sentence, the elevator lights went out and it got dark. Moments later, twenty flashlights went on, illuminating the place brighter than before.

"This way, if anyone comes up here, they have to use the stairs," Honoka explained as she pushed two flashlights into Umi's and Eli's hands, "and we'll be right here waiting for them. We've got your back, now go finish the enemy! Go!"

As Honoka urged them to move, they could already hear noises of heavy feet running up the stairs.

"Get ready," Rin ordered, and her men took their positions, cowering behind the door to the stairs, ready to take out anyone who would walk through it. Honoka signaled her gang members to hide in the shadows, tasked with backing up Rin's people and stopping anyone from going after Umi and Eli. Twenty flashlights went out at the same time.

Eli and Umi knew that the only way to honor their friends' help was to keep moving forward without them. So they followed the only possible route on this floor, which was a narrow hallway opposite of the elevators and the stairs. Two thin light beams swiped across the ground as they quietly walked down the hallway.

"Umi," Eli whispered, feeling something in her gut twisting. "It's too quiet."

"Kasei didn't expect us to make it here," Umi offered an explanation to calm both Eli and herself down. "His arrogance has always been his weak point."

Unconvinced, Eli raised her flashlight and pointed ahead of them. "There! Those three stairs leading up to a door, this must be the access to the rooftop." Eli stopped breathing when she suddenly realized what that meant. "Nozomi!"

She dropped her flashlight and ran towards the door; only one thought consumed her mind: Nozomi was behind that door.

"No!" Umi yelled, sprinting to chase after Eli. "No, don't open the door!"

Eli's fingertips had already grazed the door handle when Umi shoved her away from it, causing her to stumble and almost fall.

"Fuck, Umi, what are you-"

"It's a bomb," Umi panted, pointing her flashlight at something beneath the door handle. It was connected with the door handle through a thin wire, barely visible in the dark. "That's a bomb."

Eli stared at the rectangular device attached to the door with the unmistakable design of a short range bomb that would explode once triggered externally.

"No," Eli whispered, feeling her voice failing her. Just one door was separating her from seeing Nozomi again; she was too close to her to be stopped now. This couldn't be real.

"We need to get away from this and warn the others," Umi said, pulling at Eli's arm to go back the direction from where they had come from, but Eli shook her off, refusing to turn away from the door.

"You fucking bastard!" Eli shouted against the door with all the power left in her body. "You fucking coward! What more do you want to take away from me? What else do I still have left that you can destroy?"

"Eli!" And Umi suddenly pushed at the blonde's shoulders, making her trip backwards.

The bullet barely missed Eli.

By the time Eli herself realized what had happened, Umi had already knocked the attacker to the ground. It was one of Kasei's men who had been luring in the shadows nearby.

"Wait," Eli called out when Umi wanted to strike her fist against the man's face one more time to knock him unconscious, "let me talk to him."

Umi didn't question her, knowing that the only thing keeping Eli sane was the hope that Nozomi was still alive. And their attacker could be the key to reaching her.

The man was still struggling against Umi's grip on his throat, but his strength was quickly leaving him as he hardly got enough air to breathe with Umi's knee pressing on his chest. She was using her whole weight to hold him down.

Eli crouched down next to his head.

The man stopped struggling when he felt cold metal pressing against his temple.

"No, don't shoot," he croaked out, barely able to talk, and Umi let go of his throat. He inhaled with a shudder. "The bomb is fake...it's to buy time..."

"Oh really?" Eli growled. "Then why don't you go open the door for us?"

His eyes widened in fear.

Umi grabbed him by the collar and roughly pulled his upper body up. "You really are in no position to lie to us right now."

"I'm not!" He shook his head frantically. "That's what he said to us!"

"Do you believe him?" Umi said grimly. "Do you think he said the truth?"

His lips were quivering when he tried to form the word 'yes', but not a sound left his mouth.

"You're wasting our time!" Eli shouted, and she pushed her gun harder against his head.

"No," he cried, sweat drops trickling down his forehead, "I'll show you, I'll open the door..."

Umi pulled him up to his feet, then took out her own gun to point at him. "Quick. Or we'll make it quick for you."

They could see him innerly struggling to walk closer to the door, his legs were stiff and slow in their movements. He dreaded that those could be his last steps.

Eli and Umi distanced themselves from the scene, pulled on the gas masks hanging around their necks and hid behind a wall. They didn't trust Kasei. And apparently neither did his own men.

"Three seconds," Eli shouted, "if the door's not cracked open by then, your head will be."

The man raised his trembling hand and slowly put it on the handle. He shut his eyes. And pulled.

Eli and Umi pulled in their heads, expecting hell to break out, but nothing happened. Except the thud of a body dropping to the ground.

"What happened," Eli pulled off her gas mask and carelessly threw it to the ground, running back to the door.

Umi was right behind her, also tearing off her gas mask while running. She came to a stop before the man on the ground. He had fainted from stress.

"Eli." Umi pointed to the door. It was opened by a crack. "It wasn't a bomb."

And it took Eli less than one second to rip the door open and storm out on the rooftop.

"Nozomi!" she screamed, her voice hoarse. "Nozomi!"

She wildly swung her gun around, ready to shoot Kasei upon sight.

But no one was on the rooftop.

Nothing was on the rooftop.

Except for a camera on a tripod.

"They're gone," Umi breathed, too shocked to move.

"Nozomi," Eli whispered, her voice hollow. Her unblinking eyes were fixated on smeared blood traces on the ground, on the exact same spot Nozomi had lied on. "It's her blood..." She sank to her knees, her gun slipping from her slack fingers. "We're too late..."

"No," Umi refused to believe, walking to the dried blood stains. "That's not enough blood for someone to bleed out. She might still be alive. She is alive. I know she is."

She looked around, discovering the camera. Her eyes widened in realization. "That filthy bastard...He never meant to play a fair game."

Umi ran to the camera, took it off the tripod and turned it on. "This camera isn't connected to anything. He couldn't have filmed live when he intercepted our number tracking process. Everything was pre-recorded."

And she instinctively pressed play.

"Hello again. I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you to try and track Tojo. And congratulations, you've found her!"

Eli grabbed her gun from the ground and stood up, her eyes full of blazing fury when she marched towards the source of Kasei's voice. Her fingers itched to shoot the camera that was replaying her nightmare.

"I can't hear you. What are you -" Umi pressed the fast forward button, re-watching the whole scene with a disgusted grimace. She stopped seconds after the camera view had turned 360 degrees. "- what you can really do, Soldiers. Our last game begins now."

There was a cut in the film, and it abruptly began with Kasei smirking into the camera from another angle.

"If you are seeing this, then I am disappointed to tell you that you have failed my test. By now, I should be out on the sea, on a ship that Tojo failed to get under her control." He let out a despicable laugh, and walked over to Nozomi's body, which was still lying on the ground, unmoving. "She really believed that I shared the same interests as her. She thought she could change something with pulling off a naval blockade in front of our own coasts...what a foolish woman."

And he kicked against Nozomi's head with the heel of his shoe, scoffing when he noticed blood trickling down the side of her head and onto the ground.

Eli shut her eyes and forced herself to stay calm despite feeling every nerve of her body wanting to retaliate.

Nozomi was still alive. She had to be. Or Kasei wouldn't have taken her with him.

Those were the thoughts that kept Eli from going insane.

"A little demonstration won't change anything," Kasei muttered before he stared up at the sky, spreading his arms as he suddenly shouted, "The only way to regenerate our country is a world war!"

He let out a manic laugh.

"Remember how our country bloomed after the second world war? When everything was destroyed, everything had to be build up new. And so we did, but instead of just rebuilding the things from the past, we built them bigger and better and became stronger. But then we reached a limit and didn't move forward anymore, and we've been long overtaken. Our economy is declining, our understanding as a nation is decreasing, our importance is fading because we no longer have room to grow anymore. We have already established a system too fixed to change."

He marched up to the camera again, a crazed look in his wide eyes as he grabbed the camera and stared into the lens without blinking. "But a war could change everything. It will wipe out the weak. It will make place for the strong. A war will unite the country, the people, the classes; it will strengthen our morale and our consciousness as people of this proud nation! Our factories will be running non-stop again, our industry and economy will be on top again...and we will finally have our revenge."

He showed his white bleached teeth in a grotesque smile, his hard skin stretched over his stiff facial muscles. "I will make the Americans pay for what they did to us. I will make them pay for humiliating us. And you are too late if you think you can still stop me. Even if I only have one ship under my command, that will be enough to sink the next American cargo ship approaching Tokyo. That will be enough to start a war. And I'll let Tojo see the consequences of her betrayal for herself."

His gray hair began fluttering from the heavy wind that was blowing from behind, and a loud rattling noise filled the air. It sounded like a helicopter approaching the rooftop. "It seems like it's time for me to go."

He tapped his finger against the lens of the camera. "I wonder how long it took for you to realize that the bomb inside was fake. And I wonder how long it will take for you to realize that the bomb outside isn't."

Eli and Umi turned their heads to the door that had fallen shut after they had entered the rooftop. Beneath the handle, there was the same device attached to the door like the one on the other side. But unlike the fake bomb, the real one was blinking. A tiny screen was flashing with red numbers, showing a countdown.

"No!" Umi called after Eli who had sprinted towards it. "Don't go near it!"

"Don't bother to run," Kasei's laugh rang from the camera in Umi's hands. "This one  _will_ explode if you open the door again."

And Eli's hand froze just before touching the door handle.

"You better say your prayers in the last minute you have left, and don't blame me since you were the ones who activated the bomb by walking through that door."

"He..." Eli couldn't breathe; the screen flashing with the countdown reflected in her wide eyes. They had less than one minute left. "He set us up..."

"I gave you enough time to learn the truth. And now it's time for you to die with it."

And the recording stopped with his sinister smirk frozen on screen.

Umi smashed the camera against the ground, pulled out her gun and fired at it in cold fury, making thousands of little metal pieces fly in every direction. In her rage-fueled state, she almost used up all of her bullets on destroying the camera before she let out an exasperated yell and stopped herself.

"Honoka...Rin," she muttered, her rational sense kicking in. She pressed a finger against her ear piece. "Koizumi! Tell the Kousakas and Hoshizoras to evacuate this floor right now! There's a bomb on the rooftop, I repeat, there's a bomb on the rooftop! Get them away from the top of the building as fast possible, I can't estimate the explosion range!"

Eli felt oddly numb and empty, watching the numbers drop steadily with blank eyes.

She had been close to death far too many times to count, had always been paralyzed with fear, shock and regret in those split seconds where she thought she was facing the end, but now she felt nothing. Her heart beat was slow and steady, her mind clear. She felt isolated from the world as she watched the numbers sink below forty seconds.

Maybe it was because she felt like she had nothing to lose anymore. Or maybe it was because she could feel a cold breeze against her neck, and hear a loud rattling sound fast approaching them. Her hair and tie got blown up by a strong gust of wind, and she knew what to expect even before Umi had turned around and exclaimed in disbelief.

"Maki!"

And Eli turned around to see a helicopter coming to a stop before the rooftop, hovering a meter away from the railing but around the same height level; the door was open, revealing Maki inside who waved at them with one arm while the other was holding on to a handhold inside the machine.

The strong blasts caused by the rotors of the helicopter made it difficult for Eli and Umi to keep their eyes open, and they shielded their faces with their arms as they fought against the wind and marched towards the edge of the rooftop, their suits and ties billowing around them.

Knowing that her voice would only be drowned out by the noise, Maki signaled them to jump on the landing skid of the helicopter first before climbing in or otherwise they wouldn't make it.

Umi paled and her steps faltered, but they couldn't afford to loose any time, so Eli pulled her forward with her.

"Don't look, don't think, just jump!" Eli shouted against the wind. "I'm right behind you!"

"Umi!" Maki yelled, stretching out her free arm as far as she could, "I'm right here, I'll catch you! You won't fall, I won't let you fall!"

And Umi climbed on the railing, bent her knees and leaped forward with a frightened yell.

Maki caught her by the forearm at the same moment Umi managed to get a footing on the landing skid.

"Eli!" Umi shouted right after she had climbed into the helicopter herself and gotten a grip on a handhold inside, stretching out her free arm just like Maki. "Now!"

There were no thoughts of panic that held her back. No fear, no shock. In the past three days, she had been shot at, betrayed and arrested; there was nothing she was afraid of anymore. Death didn't mean anything to her anymore. No one was afraid of dying itself, they were only afraid of missing out on the things they could still experience by living on. But if there was nothing left to be eager about in life, then there was nothing left to be scared about in death.

So Eli jumped without any hesitation, knowing that there were only two things in life she could count on. Only two certainties in this universe she could believe in.

One was death.

And two were the Soldiers' capability to save her.

"Eli!"

Her feet slipped off the landing skid and she would have fallen twenty-eight floors down if it weren't for two strong hands grabbing each of her arm. With a loud yell, Maki and Umi pulled her up together, and Eli tumbled inside the helicopter moments later.

The helicopter took off and Maki pulled the door shut.

Not one second too early.

The explosion would have killed them in an instant had they remained on the rooftop. Though its impact range hadn't gone beyond the rooftop, its focus on the immediate area around was deadly. The shock wave of the explosion caused the helicopter to sway for a few seconds, and Eli and Umi stared at the place they used to stand on just half a minute ago, now completely in flames. They hoped that Honoka and Rin had made it safely out of there.

"Do you have the coordinates?" Maki asked the pilot.

They nodded. "I'm getting an update every minute."

Eli and Umi stared at Maki, realizing they didn't even know where to begin with talking.

"Maki..."

"I leave you alone for one hour, and I suddenly have to save you from explosions and shit," Maki said in disbelief, gesturing in the general direction of the tower they had escaped from. "Thank god Koizumi kept me updated the whole time or I wouldn't know what's up and down anymore."

"She did?" Umi asked, stunned.

"Yeah, the police never noticed my ear piece, so it stayed hidden inside my ear the whole time," Maki answered.

"Wait," Eli rubbed her eyes, "but you – how? How are you here right now?"

Maki glanced at her wedding ring on her left hand. "She saved me. Again."

"Who?" Umi followed her line of view. "Nico?"

But Eli was quicker to put the puzzle pieces together as she was the only one who knew a particular piece of information. "Does her disappearance have something to do with bailing you out of jail?"

Maki closed her eyes and nodded, a small smile on lips. "She got word of my arrest. Someone inside the police leaked that information, and her manager found out and told her, and she came back from the sea with a helicopter. With this helicopter, to be exact."

Eli and Umi shared a stunned look.

"She got me out of there within minutes, everybody there treated her like a goddess for stopping the military ships," Maki said, and she laughed quietly at the memory. "But then came the hardest part. Convincing her to stay on the ground."

As if on cue, Eli and Umi looked around as if they expected Nico to be in the helicopter with them.

"Do you really think I'd let her come with me?" Maki asked, incredulous. "I was afraid I'd waste too much time arguing with her, but in the moments that matter, she actually listens, no questions asked. Well, in return, she made me promise to come back alive so we can celebrate our wedding anniversary."

"You will come back alive," Umi said, "all of us will."

"But from what?" Eli asked. "Where are we headed to?"

"Do you even have to ask? Look what's beneath us."

Eli and Umi had to look over the pilot's shoulder to see the ground beneath them. "The sea...you know where Kasei is?"

"There is only one active military ship left," Maki explained, "but it's not moving towards land, it's sailing out to the ocean. No one knows where it's heading or what their goal is, but since its navy crew on board is unarmed, the admiral gave priority to stopping the rebelling ships within Tokyo Bay first. Right now, we are the only ones on aircraft following that ship. The coastguard will need longer to catch up."

"But how do you know that Kasei must be on that ship?" Umi asked lowly. "You weren't there when..."

Maki reached inside her suit jacket and pulled out a folded card with her pointer and middle finger.

Eli snatched it away from her the second she saw the familiar print of a tarot card, and she unfolded it with trembling hands.

"Justice," Umi whispered. "Nozomi? But how? When did you-"

"No," Maki shook her head. "Some guy at the precinct slipped this to me when I was in custody. I don't know if he was a fake cop or an inside man, but he said that delivering this note was an order he got three days ago. He was told to expect one of us showing up at some point. That's all I got out of him before he disappeared. But look closer."

And Maki pointed to the tiny, hand-written words on the card. Eli held her breath when she recognized it as Nozomi's handwriting.

_A war is not over for as long as a single man is still standing_

"When I first read this, I thought it was a threat," Maki said. "But it made no sense, why would Nozomi send this kind of note if I was already locked up in custody? Doesn't this sound more like something you would write to someone who thinks they have won? And then I realized, it was never about us. Kasei's sudden appearance is not accidental."

Eli brushed over the words on the tarot card with her thumb. "He knew Nozomi. He knew of us."

"But did he know of our connection to Nozomi for as long as he knew us separately? Think about it, he had stayed hidden for so many years, why would he decide to show his face again now? And he also must have known Nozomi for quite a while, why didn't he use her sooner to eliminate us? A guy like him doesn't wait to exact revenge."

Umi slowly looked up when Maki's reasoning dawned on her. "Kasei didn't know of our location up until he found out through Nozomi."

"Exactly," Maki nodded. "Nozomi knew who we were from the start and maybe approached us because of it, but Kasei was never a part of the game. I would go so far to believe that he only found out on accident."

Eli folded the tarot card and tucked it inside her suit jacket. "There's nothing more I want to believe than that."

"It would explain a lot," Umi continued thoughtfully. "Remember when Kasei said that Nozomi had betrayed him? Maybe he implied the moment he found out about the link between Nozomi and us."

"It's no use to speculate," Eli whispered, tiredly putting her face into her hands. "We're still no closer to the truth. We still don't know why Nozomi did the things she had done. For all we know, everything could be just another big lie."

"But do you believe it?" Umi asked quietly.

Eli buried her hands in her hair. "What I believe doesn't matter anymore. I need to know the truth."

"And we'll find out, but do you believe that this is just another set up by Nozomi?"

With a slight shake of her head, Eli gave in her to her heart. She didn't believe it. Or maybe it was because she didn't want to believe it. The last two days had been hell but still, somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn't ignore the little part of her that wanted to forgive Nozomi.

She just wanted things to be over.

"Whatever we've gotten into...it all ends today." Eli took out her loaded gun, checking the bullets despite knowing she hadn't fired one. "It's not a question of whether someone will die today...it's a question of how many."

"Then let's keep that number around one," Umi said, sharing a grim look with Maki.

"We have visual on the ship!" the pilot suddenly called out.

The three passengers instantly looked out of the windows.

"It seems to be a small destroyer," the pilot muttered thoughtfully. "There is already a helicopter occupying the landing field on the rear deck, I'm afraid there's no other surface large enough to make it possible for us to touch down too."

"But can you get us close enough to the front deck so we can jump?" Maki asked.

The pilot hesitated. "It will still be too high. I need to be at least three meters above the deck surface if I don't want to bump into anything else."

"But what if we hang from the landing skid first before we jump? If we deduct our height plus our arm length, it will be less than one meter," Maki reasoned.

"She's right," Eli agreed, "landing will only waste time. Drop us off, then fly towards the American cargo ship to warn them and make them change course."

"But," the pilot protested, and Umi stopped them, "It's fine. You won't hold any responsibility for what happens after. Just make sure that innocent people don't get involved."

Sensing that it was futile to argue, the pilot nodded. "I'm closing in on the ship now. Get ready to jump in one minute."

"Good."

Maki took a deep breath, then turned to Eli and Umi. "This is it. We're going to finish Kasei for once and for all."

Umi nodded while Eli gritted her teeth at the mention of Kasei's name.

"Hold on tight or you might fall out once I open the door," Maki said, bracing herself. She turned to the pilot. "Ready when you are."

"Roger," came the answer. "Less than thirty seconds now. But I have some concerns about the few men that have walked out on deck."

"Those are sailors," Maki muttered, "they don't have guns unless they were issued one. By the looks of it, they are unarmed."

"But we can't be sure, there must be an armory on this ship."

"Then we'll have to be faster than them," Umi said darkly. She reached for her own gun and checked the amount of bullets she had left, frowning when there was only one single bullet stuck in the magazine. She cursed herself for having lost control after finding out about the bomb on the rooftop, firing almost all of her bullets at the camera in a moment of desperation and fury.

Knowing that telling the others of her situation would only make them nervous, she tucked the gun away without losing a word over it, instead saying, "We might have to break our code today since we don't have the time to figure out whose death is pointless."

"We have no choice," Maki said, "if they are as twisted as Kasei, then it's too late to save them anyway."

"We've reached our altitude of three meters!" the pilot called out. "A strong wind is coming our way, I can't hold this position for long!"

" _Now!_ " Maki yelled and tore open the door.

Eli went first; she jumped on the landing skid before she crouched down and grabbed on to it with her hands, then let herself fall in a controlled movement. Her feet were dangling a meter above ground before she let go, landing on the deck with a thud that was drowned out by the noise of the helicopter rotors.

Umi and Maki were flanking her sides in seconds, brushing their fluttering hair out of their faces.

As the helicopter flew away, more sailors gathered on deck, but none of them attacked the three intruders. They were simply standing in a half circle around the Soldiers, curiously watching.

"Where is Kasei!" Eli shouted, pulling out her gun. The sailors in her vicinity immediately took a step back and held up their hands.

"They're not talking," Maki muttered, swinging her own gun around. Wherever the opening of her gun pointed to, the people of the navy crew would flinch and step back. But none of them were coming forward or trying to talk to them.

"We only want Kasei," Umi said calmly, choosing not to pull her gun. She could see that the sailors were confused and intimidated by their presence. Maybe they could be convinced to forfeit. "We don't want to hurt any of you."

"We have our orders," one of the sailors finally spoke up.

Eli narrowed her eyes. "And they are?"

"To protect our own and destroy the enemy."

Eli could feel Umi and Maki shifting their positions so they were forming a triangle. This was the only way to keep an overview of the many sailors surrounding them.

"We are not your enemy," Umi said, showing the palm of her hands. Her gun still rested in its holder. "But Kasei is. Do you know what he's about to start?"

"We do," came the neutral reply.

"Then how can you let him control you!" Eli shouted. "What about protecting your own!"

"We will."

No matter where they were looking, determined faces were staring back.

"It's no use," Maki muttered, her eyes flitting around, every muscle of hers tense. She tightened her grasp on her gun. "We can't get anything out of them."

"But we can't shoot them either, they're too many," Umi replied lowly.

"I can't  _believe_ it."

The navy crew and the three Soldiers startled when they heard a loud voice blaring through the ship's PA system.

"Kasei," Maki hissed.

"You actually survived. Maybe I have set the countdown too generously."

"Show me your pathetic face, Kasei!" Eli shouted in rage, and Maki had to hold her back from storming into the crowd of sailors who were standing like a wall between them and the bridge where Kasei had to be. "Let me go, I'm going to shoot every bit of his ugly face!"

"I wouldn't recommend that because you see, I still have something that might interest you."

The wall of sailors parted in the middle, and two men marched through it carrying a motionless body between them.

"Nozomi!"

Maki and Umi had to restrain Eli from mindlessly running towards Nozomi because they had seen what the blonde couldn't see in her haze of fury and despair.

A third sailor was walking behind Nozomi, holding a knife to her throat.

"Give up your weapons or I'll have her throat sliced."

The three Soldiers didn't move. Kasei hadn't held his word before, why would they believe him now?

"Well, I never cared much for her anyway. Kill her."

"No!" Eli yelled, and she threw her gun over board, then held up her empty hands. "We'll do it!"

Maki copied her action and when Umi wanted to throw away hers too, Kasei's voice boomed over the PA system again.

"No. Leave one gun to me."

Having no choice, Umi let hers drop to the floor and she kicked it over to the sailors, where one of them picked it up.

They still had their military knives, the three of them thought. They might not survive today, but they were going to take Kasei down with them.

"How nice of you to cooperate. If only your parents had been like that, they might still be alive."

Eli and Umi gritted their teeth, hands twitching now that they didn't have their guns anymore.

"We did as you said, now show us your face!" Eli's voice was raw from shouting, but that didn't stop her. "Are you going to keep hiding forever, you bastard!"

There was no immediate response.

Umi and Maki were staring at Nozomi's lifeless body, held up by two large sailors who each had an arm of hers around their necks. Her head was facing down, and her long hair was covering her face like a curtain.

How long had she been unconscious? Shouldn't she have awoken by now?

From this distance, Maki couldn't distinguish whether Nozomi was still breathing, unable to see the movements of her chest that should be rising and sinking with every breath. She was too still.

"The three of you are truly remarkable."

The sailors parted for Kasei to walk through until he stood next to Nozomi.

Eli's fingers twitched, wanting to reach for her military knife and stab it into his beady eyes.

"To go such lengths for someone so worthless," Kasei chuckled, brushing Nozomi's hair out of her face to show the wound on the side of her forehead.

"Don't fucking touch her," Eli growled.

"Ah, you sure are her lover," Kasei said tonelessly. He snapped with his fingers and held out his hand, and the sailor carrying Umi's gun handed it over to him. "I didn't believe it at first when I found out about your connection. And lovers, no less! Ha, the coincidence."

He closed his fingers around the gun and raised it, pointing between Eli, Umi and Maki. "Don't you know how many years I've been searching for you when all along, you've been right under my nose..."

"So Nozomi never told you about us," Umi said, working her tense jaw. They had to let him keep talking until they found the right moment where he was distracted enough to allow an attack.

"No one can hide from me!" Kasei spat, his gun moving over to Umi. "Tojo only got lucky because she didn't know I was searching for you. She only managed to feign ignorance because she truly was ignorant. But when she found out the truth, she dared to keep lying to me."

Breathing heavily, his crazed eyes fixated on Nozomi. "All these years, I let her play her game and pretended I was on her side so she could do the dirty work for me. But if I had known that she would be of more trouble than use, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill her eighteen year old self."

"Shows how weak you actually are," Maki said, clenching her fist. "You can't do anything right on your own. You are pathetic, Kasei."

"You must not fear death," Kasei whispered, taking a step closer towards the Soldiers, pointing his gun at Maki. "Just like your foolish wife. Yes, I've seen her, watched her risking her life for nothing. But she is brave, I have to give her that. Maybe I'll make her my puppet once war breaks out, she could be quite useful."

And Maki snapped, letting out a furious roar before she lunged at Kasei, who smirked as he aimed at Maki's chest.

"What a fool," and he pulled the trigger.

A gun shot tore through the air, disrupting the gentle sound of sea waves crushing against the ship. Nearby gulls were startled by the noise and crowed in fear, flying away from the source of the terrifying sound.

But nothing rang louder in Eli's and Umi's ears than the sound of Maki's breathless gasp when she was struck by the bullet.

With their screams stuck in the back of their throats, they sank to their knees as the sight of Maki's body falling to the ground reflected in their wide, horrified eyes. The sound of the gun shot still echoed in their heart that had stopped beating, tearing a hole through it, shattering everything around it.

"Ma...ki..." escaped Umi's trembling lips. As she unblinkingly stared at the motionless body on the ground, she felt something hot and wet rolling down her cheeks. "Maki..."

Eli couldn't move. Feeling like she was falling down an endless pit, threatening to suffocate in an airless vacuum, she struggled to breathe as her broken voice whispered Maki's name over and over again.

Kasei chuckled as he stepped over Maki's body and walked towards the two Soldiers, who were kneeling on the ground in defeat. He pointed the gun at Eli.

"This is what I should have done a long time ago," he whispered, "you were just children, so I had made the mistake of feeling too safe."

"And you did that mistake again."

Kasei held his breath when he felt someone pressing a knife to his throat from behind.

Eli froze. Umi inhaled sharply.

"How," Kasei growled without moving.

"Your arrogance," Nozomi whispered into his ear. "You spent so much time looking down on others, you didn't see the people above, you controlling you." An empty smile formed on her lips. "I was never your puppet. You were mine."

"Get her!" Kasei shouted to the sailors but none of them moved. They stared at him with dark expressions. "What are you standing around for, do something-"

"They were never your puppets either," Nozomi said lowly, pushing the knife so hard against Kasei's throat that she was drawing blood. "They are no one's puppets. They protect their own."

Umi realized that the knife Nozomi was holding had been the same one which had been in front of her own throat in a safe distance. Now that she thought back, she realized that the sailors had been treating Nozomi very carefully when they had carried her. What was going on?

"Let me go or I'll shoot her!" Kasei bellowed, pointing his gun at Eli's head.

The blonde closed her eyes, not wanting to show Nozomi how scared she truly was.

"One last game," Kasei panted, grimacing because the knife was already cutting deep into his skin. "Your lover and I both live. Or both of us die. You choose. Even if you slice my throat, I can still shoot her."

Umi suddenly stood in front of Eli. "Kill him, Nozomi."

"No," Eli grabbed at Umi's shoulder, trying to push her away, "what are you doing!"

But Umi walked closer to Kasei until his gun was pressed against her chest. She gazed over his shoulder at Nozomi. "Kill him."

Nozomi stared into Umi's determined eyes, taking a second to read her intention.

And she pulled the blade across Kasei's throat, cutting his vein open at the same time he pulled the trigger.

Blood spurted everywhere, and Eli shouted so loud she thought she had drowned out the gun shot noise.

But only one body dropped to the ground.

The light in his eyes fading, Kasei desperately pressed his hands to his heavily bleeding throat, his trembling lips forming the words, "How?"

Umi towered above his head, watching down on him with a cold look as she kicked the empty gun away. "That gun had only one bullet left. And you killed Maki with it."

Nozomi let her knife drop, which landed in the pool of blood that Kasei's head was lying in. "Not quite."

"What do you mea-"

"Fuck, that hurt like hell."

Their minds had to be playing a trick on them, it couldn't be Maki's voice, she was dead, they had seen her getting shot in the chest, seen her falling to the ground, she couldn't be-

"I'm never doing that again."

"Maki!"

Seconds before his death, Kasei's eyes widened in shock when he turned his head and saw Maki's body slowly sitting up. The view of Maki getting helped up to her feet by sailors was blocked by Nozomi's legs. His half-dead eyes stared up at her.

Nozomi's voice was almost soft when she whispered the last word he was ever going to hear.

"Die."

His chest stopped moving and his shocked grimace was etched on his face forever.

For a second, only silence was enveloping them, until all the sailors on deck broke out in cheers, and four of them immediately stormed towards Kasei's body and dragged it across the deck so they could throw him over board.

He was instantly swallowed by the ocean, pulled into the depths of it within seconds.

Kasei Hideki was dead.

"It's over," Eli whispered in disbelief, "it's over..."

"He's dead," Umi breathed before she noticed Maki staggering towards them. "Maki!"

Rubbing her chest with a pained groan, Maki hissed, "Hurts like fucking hell," before she unbuttoned her shirt and revealed a thin bulletproof vest beneath it. She pulled out the bullet stuck in the material of her vest and held it up to inspect it. It was deformed from the impact. "That would have definitely killed me."

"When did you wear that," Umi stuttered, still overwhelmed by the fact Maki was standing right in front of her, breathing and living.

"Actually, there were two conditions under which Nico only would have let me go," Maki said with a weak smile. "The first one was the anniversary party, the second one was wearing a bulletproof vest. She keeps saving my life, doesn't she."

A quiet laugh escaped Umi's lips. "If I'm not invited to that party and don't meet your wife soon, I'm going to finish you myself, and not even she can save you."

"Add me to that list," Eli muttered, suddenly feeling drained and exhausted. No, it wasn't sudden, it was how she had felt for the past two days but suppressed it.

She stumbled and would have fallen if it weren't Nozomi catching her. "Eli!"

The blonde tightly grabbed on to Nozomi, not looking up as she was supported by other woman. "Nozomi...I..."

"I'm sorry," Nozomi whispered, hugging Eli closer to her. "I'm so sorry."

The sailors hurried back to their positions inside the ship so they could steer it back to the ports, knowing that their presence on deck wasn't needed anymore. They had achieved victory under General Tojo, who had informed them of Kasei's true plans beforehand and asked for their assistance to keep world peace. It was no question that they would declare their loyalty to her instead of a madman who had tried to steer their country into destruction.

Eli clenched her teeth, wanting to accept the apology without questioning her, but she couldn't. Too many questions still needed an answer. "Why..."

"I..." Nozomi shut her eyes. "I don't expect you to understand or forgive me. But will you hear me out?"

Parting, Eli took a step back and gazed at Nozomi with a vulnerable expression. An expression that Umi and Maki hadn't seen ever since the day Pai had died in the fire.

"I was a fool," Nozomi whispered, looking to the side and holding her own elbows. "I didn't realize who Kasei really was until it was too late. Ten years ago, when I was close to freezing to death on the streets, he came to me and introduced himself as Ishidake Kei, which was an anagram of his name's roman letters. He asked me what I thought about life. I told him it was purposeless. I said, life only has a meaning if we assign one to it ourselves, but we won't find the answer anywhere else."

Nozomi turned away from Eli. "He said he liked my answer and offered to take me away from my miserable life and give it meaning again." She stared at the ground. "I knew he couldn't be trusted. But I wanted to live. I wanted to live long enough to see the beautiful things others were talking about which made life worth living."

Eli's eyes fluttered. "And did you find them?"

Nozomi looked up at her with a small smile, her gaze soft and yearning. "Don't you know the answer already?"

"Then why did you do all this," Eli asked in exasperation, spreading her arms to gesture to the whole surrounding. She was referring to everything that had happened in the past two days. "Nozomi, I was begging you, pleading you not to do this alone. None of this had to happen, we could have found a solution together. Why?"

"Because this was a road I had to walk alone if I wanted to see you alive at the end of it," Nozomi cried, showing her pained expression. "I had to become your enemy so you would go after me instead of chasing Kasei. He had always known how to trap people, his cruel games were never fair. You couldn't win against him by chasing his tail."

Clenching her teeth, Eli walked away from Nozomi, marching past Umi and Maki.

"Eli," Umi grabbed her friend by the shoulder, and Maki did the same to her other side. "She is right. We would have lost against him."

Shaking their hands off her, Eli turned around and revealed her reddened eyes that were screaming in pain as they stared at Nozomi. "But why did you have to make me hate myself for not being able to hate you? I was trying to figure out who you were and I almost lost myself. I was trying to find explanations for your behavior while I couldn't explain my own anymore."

She was hurting, and they knew it, so they let her shout her pain off her chest.

"What do you do when everything you used to believe in was all a lie?" Eli let out a hollow laugh. "Nozomi, when you walked out on me that night, you took along all my memories of you because I might as well have never known you."

It stung. But Nozomi didn't back down, she took a step towards Eli. "I didn't change. Neither did my feelings for you. Eli, I love you, which was the only reason I could pull this through."

"Pull what through," Eli spat, refusing to be easily convinced though her heart was starting to stray from her resolve.

"Not everything was a lie. I have prepared for my mission for years, hoping to one day trigger a revolution that would mobilize everyone in our country and make them see the dystopia that is our world. But the closer I got to my goal, the farther Ishidake – I mean, Kasei – distanced himself from my ideas. It wasn't until I found out his real identity a week ago that I realized I had to act soon or both you and my mission would be in danger."

Eli hated herself for holding her breath for more of Nozomi's explanation.

"It was the only way I could think of in the short time I had left. Everything happened so fast and sudden," Nozomi said desperately, just hoping that Eli would somehow see the reason behind her actions. "I had to leave, I had to disappear or Kasei would have gotten to you sooner."

"But..." Unable to wrap her mind around it, Eli stuttered, "What about all the things you said...you said you were going to bring chaos and destruction, were going to ruin this country so you could build it up again. You made me believe on purpose that you have gone crazy?"

Nozomi smiled sadly. "None of what I said was a lie. What I told you about the ignorant masses, the corrupt system, the rotten government - all of that were my true beliefs. Still are."

"I don't - I don't understand," Eli whispered desperately. What had Nozomi been thinking the whole time? "Why did you go such lengths to make me your enemy..."

"I never meant to," Nozomi's voice was hoarse, her strength leaving her. "I was afraid of losing you. I was afraid of losing the years of work I've put into my mission. I wanted to keep you both, so I did the most selfish thing I have ever done. I left you..." Nozomi's voice broke. "I left you with the mission that should have been mine to finish."

The more she explained, the less Eli understood, and her world was slowly falling apart around her.

"Left me with your mission?"

But Umi and Maki, who weren't plagued by the same emotional pain that was numbing Eli's mind, had understood immediately, and they couldn't contain their shock as they grasped their pounding heads.

"You planned for us to start that mass demonstration?" Maki yelled.

Closing her eyes, Nozomi tilted her head slightly up. "It would've been impossible to hide from Kasei in a city he owned...I needed chaos to blur my traces and buy me time. But my preparations weren't complete, and I didn't have enough time left; the only ones who had the means to start a chaos of that grand scale would have been you."

Feeling that this was too much to process at once, Maki turned away from Nozomi and focused on steadying her breathing.

"So you said all these insane things about war and destruction so we would try to counter it with a more peaceful form of chaos, which would be the mass demonstration you wanted all along..." Umi refused to believe it, vehemently shaking her head. "No, you couldn't have planned that far. You couldn't have foreseen our reaction."

"No, I couldn't," Nozomi agreed quietly, her eyes landing on Eli, who could no longer face her. "But I knew Eli. I knew that her sense of justice wouldn't allow her to do nothing. I knew that if there was someone who would try to counter me, who would figure out a solution to beat me, it would be her. The idea to start a peaceful demonstration before I could start a violent riot was hers, wasn't it?"

Eli blankly stared ahead, seeing nothing, feeling nothing.

"But," Umi hissed, feeling her forehead heating up from her thoughts and memories racing through her mind, "Why the games, the traps? Why couldn't you clue us in? We could have helped you! But instead, you were using us, playing with us! How can we believe that everything you did was for the grander scheme, the greater good? How do you want us to forgive you? How do you expect us to move on?"

"I don't know," Nozomi cried out, and her reaction stunned Umi.

Tears falling from her eyes, Nozomi repeated in a broken whisper, "I don't know..."

Speechless, Umi watched Nozomi shedding tears of regret.

"Nozomi." Eli's hand automatically reached for her but stopped midway. The feeling of betrayal still ran too deep to forget.

"I didn't want you to see me like this, Eli," Nozomi sobbed, staring down at her shaking hands. "You must think I'm unhuman for calculating everything down to the last step. But this is how I've always been, this is what I've always done to survive. I never had anyone to rely on, the only one I could trust was myself."

"So you never trusted me?" Pain made Eli's voice tremble.

"I did," Nozomi breathed. "But I didn't know how to ask for help anymore. I've screamed for help for years, but no one ever heard me. I screamed for help when my father was choked to death by the police, but everyone just watched. No one helped him when he said he couldn't breathe fifteen times. They let him get killed over stolen bread. And this is when I stopped screaming for help. It's not that people don't hear you, but they don't want to answer you."

Eli felt her insides turn.

"I don't know what receiving help feels like," Nozomi whispered. She blinked, and more teardrops rolled over her cheek. "I don't know how to ask for help because I only fear that I will be ignored."

"No," Eli choked out, "you know I wouldn't have done that..."

"But I was afraid," Nozomi cut in, shaking her head desperately. "I knew that the game I was playing wasn't fair. But I was afraid of losing it all. I'd rather risk you hating me than seeing you die because of me. I don't want to see anyone die because of me again."

"Nozomi..."

She inhaled shakily. "But in the end, I was still too weak. I made the biggest mistake when I gave in to my need to see you again, Eli. This is why I left a sign in our appartment. I wanted to meet you and tell you the truth, but Kasei got to me first."

The truth was hard to swallow and even harder to digest. In all the years the Soldiers had been active, they had never felt this lost about what to do next.

They had finally killed Kasei, but why didn't it feel like a victory? Was it because Nozomi had orchestrated the whole thing, dropping them just enough hints so they would follow the right direction and play into her hands?

Forgiving Nozomi and moving on wasn't something they could easily do even if they wanted to.

"Just tell us one thing, Nozomi," Umi said quietly. "Were we just chess pieces to you in this crazy game?"

Nozomi smiled weakly and wiped at her eyes. "Chess pieces don't move on their own. Everything you did was a decision you made for yourself. I wanted to fight alongside with you."

"Then how long did you know of our existence," Maki asked grimly. "Did you enter Eli's life because you knew we could be useful to you someday?"

Eli gritted her teeth, not wanting to hear the answer and yet unable to not listen.

"I would be lying if I didn't say that your existence didn't intrigue me," Nozomi whispered, her longing fell gaze on Eli, who forced herself to look away. "To know that there were assassins out there who dedicated themselves for a much bigger cause, to think that such a group existed whose interests coincided with mine...The Soldiers were a name everyone in the world I came from knew. The fear, the respect and the admiration it instilled by just saying it out loud, it fascinated me. Along with a lot of other people. But you already know that."

Indeed they did.

Their organization was brought to life once they had established a functioning network of weapon suppliers, inside men in every branch and a team of IT professionals that would back them up in every mission, all around the clock. After two months of assassinating key figures in organized crimes, they had their first imitators who also acted in the name of the Soldiers. But none of them could survive for long as they didn't have the same basis as the Soldiers, who had a broad network of allies to support them from everywhere.

But the main reason for the imitators' quick deaths was that they had followed the Soldiers' path with an entirely different intention. They wanted to have a share of the glory, they wanted to become the heroes that the Soldiers never saw themselves as, and this had become their fatal end. By boasting about their killings, they revealed themselves to the vengeful kinsmen of their victims and were slaughtered mercilessly.

They had wanted recognition for their work, and they had received it.

But the Soldiers moved quietly, invisibly in the dark, and no one could attribute one's death to them with certainty. The most someone could see of them were their shadows, but even then, nobody could tell if it was really them and nobody dared to look for confirmation.

"But you were never just Soldiers to me," Nozomi whispered. She gazed at Umi and Maki. "You were Sonoda Umi and Nishikino Maki. You were friends to me." Her gaze landed on Eli. "Who I got to know through Ayase Eli, the one I fell in love with."

Closing her eyes, Eli took a deep breath. "The first time I met you..."

"Was a coincidence," Nozomi finished quietly. "I didn't know I would meet you there. But I liked you the moment you turned to look back."

Eli turned to Umi and Maki, who no longer stared at Nozomi with a tense expression anymore. They nodded when they saw the look their friend gave them, and walked away, heading inside the ship to leave Eli and Nozomi alone on the deck.

"Was it the Soldier in me you loved?" Eli asked lowly.

"No," Nozomi breathed out. Her lips turned up in a small smile. "The Soldier in you was terrible. She was distant and cold. But the Eli I love is warm and caring. And she's standing right in front of me."

And when Nozomi closed the distance between them, touching Eli's cheeks with her fingers, the blonde didn't push her away.

Nozomi's thumb gently stroked the healed cut on Eli's cheek.

"I don't ask you to forgive me," Nozomi whispered hoarsely. "And if you don't wish to see me ever again, I will -"

"Nozomi," Eli muttered, and she softly lifted Nozomi's chin up with two fingers. Nozomi's eyelids fluttered at the proximity of their faces. "I can't promise to forgive right away but I don't wish for you to leave. The first time hurt enough."

"Eli," Nozomi breathed, her gaze flitting over Eli's face until it landed on her chapped lips.

And as if she had read her thoughts, Eli leaned in and brought her lips against Nozomi's.

Their lips moved slowly against each other, almost hesitantly; their first kiss after such a chaotic chapter in their life reflected the mixed feelings in their hearts as they learned how to be with each other again.

To forgive and forget wasn't something that could happen within a day.

But as Maki and Umi watched from the bridge as the two lovers were united again, they were certain that this would be soon a story of the past. After all, they were as brave as a thousand soldiers, and there was nothing they couldn't overcome. More challenges would be heading their way and they wouldn't be Soldiers if they didn't keep standing up after getting knocked down.

As long as injustice and systematic oppression existed, their fight was far from over. They might have prevented an international war from breaking out, but they had been leading their own war for years. A war against everything wrong in their world.

And no matter how many battles it would take to get closer to their goal, the Soldiers were going to fight every single one that was necessary. They were aware that they might not live long enough to see their world changing for the better, but if they could contribute to it, then no blood drop was shed in vain.

Until then, they were going to keep dirtying their own hands to clean the world of corruption.

Until then, they were going to keep committing necessary evil to stop bigger evil from spreading.

Because a war could not be won without killing the enemy.

* * *

"Welcome to a special broadcast that is called 'The Aftermath of the New Equality Movement'. I am Morishimo Nanaka, a live reporter who has followed the mass demonstration up close."

"And I am Shinomiya Akiru, I will begin by covering the headlines of today since the evening news was exchanged for this program. As already mentioned in the preview, Yuuki Anju has retracted her charges against Sonoda Umi and publicly stated a full apology. According to her own words, she was 'misguided' by wrong information and thus deeply regrets incriminating Sonoda for a crime she didn't commit. This new turn of events will not only exonerate Sonoda, but have lasting consequences for Yuuki, both as a private person and an entrepreneur.

Business insiders reckon with a steep drop of Yuuki Tecs' share value as such an unprecedented scandal case will damage the company's reputation and credibility. But Yuuki has announced that she will take over full responsibility by depositing her personal assets into the company's capital so the employees will not be burdened by the deficit and receive their usual salary."

"I have to say, that is a truly remarkable step. Just as remarkable as the next person we're going to report about."

"Please do, Ms Morishimo."

"Yesterday around eight in the morning, ten million viewers and I have witnessed something so spectacular that it has gotten its own idiom. 'To be a Yazawa' has become a synonym for showing remarkable courage in situations were the normal man would have died seven deaths. To be a Yazawa means more than just being a hero. It celebrates the weak, mortal human being who can still stand up in the face of danger. It celebrates acknowledging your own limits and your attempts to push them. If you know you are weaker than your enemy but still stand up to them because there's more at stake than your own life – that is what it means to be a Yazawa."

"So how was this idiom born overnight?"

"I'm glad you asked, Ms Shinomiya. As you can already imagine, the name giver is none other than singer, actor and entertainer Yazawa Nico, the icon of modern pop and our favorite idol who taught us to embrace cuteness, no matter how we look like or who we are supposed to be by societal standards. It is said that she has contributed to a recent movement where people of the non-female gender open up about pursuing interests that have been stamped off as a 'girl thing' before. Yazawa has helped especially young men to overcome their need for masculine affirmation and to break out of the gender norms by encouraging them to do 'cute things' if their heart pleases to do so. Simple examples would be wearing dresses, skirts and make-up."

"That is a very impressive achievement indeed."

"And it is going to be even more impressive. Yazawa's role in the New Equality Movement will not be soon forgotten. Though no official statements had been released yet that explain why five ships of the navy left their positions to head towards the coasts, Yazawa has live reported of her mission to stop them from nearing the commercial ports so they wouldn't cause panic and chaos on land. Now let me ask you, Ms Shinomiya, how big do you reckon is a destroyer of the Murasame class of which our navy still has nine active units?"

"I can hardly imagine, Ms Morishimo. It must be gigantic, especially from the view of a small yacht."

"Exactly. It was a David vs Goliath situation for Yazawa Nico. The destroyer could have easily crashed her boat into bits and pieces. But with her rhetoric skills that have been known to melt the coldest hearts, Yazawa managed to not only convince one crew to abort their mission but three. With no casualties."

"It would not be an understatement to label her as a hero, would it?"

"Indeed. But it makes us question why we needed such a hero in the first place, which takes us to the main topic of our show, 'The Aftermath of the New Equality Movement'. The whole nation's – no, the whole world's eyes were focused on Tokyo yesterday, and we all have followed the demonstration live, astonished by the massive scale it had quickly taken on. Since we have already reported extensively about the demonstration itself yesterday, Ms Shinomiya, what can we say today about the results?"

"The first thing to note is that nothing similar to this demonstration has ever happened before. It broke out overnight and ended on the second day. In a span of mere hours, millions of people have managed to create such incredible pressure on the local government that on the same evening, a list of concessions has been published. No protest has ever been of such a large dimension before and no protest has ever achieved such quick results."

"How can that be explained?"

"It has multiple reasons that all come together. A bubble of discontent has been steadily rising over the years, and social media connected all the people feeling suffocated within this bubble. And when it exploded, we saw what happened. The government quickly realized that this new generation of protestors were more educated than before and that they would not be placated by halfhearted attempts at concessions. These mostly young demonstrators were willing to go lengths that their predecessors didn't dare to think of, knowing that they were the engine of the nation and that the government was dependent on them."

"So it was more than just an act of frustration."

"Yes, it was an act of liberation. 'Shout for your right to speak' was chanted all day long, and it is not a criticism about the lack of freedom of speech itself, but it addresses the issue that if we do want to express our opinions, we are not heard unless we have a certain standing in society that makes it difficult to suppress our voices because we have too much influence and power to be ignored."

"So what you are saying is that the common people can freely express their dissatisfaction but it is most likely that their voices won't be heard."

"Exactly. But what makes the New Equality Movement so exceptional is the unity of the people as we have never seen before, not ever since the second world war. It was a mass demonstration of a scale that is hard to grasp, millions of people were on the streets in Tokyo, the entire infrastructure was brought to a standstill. A protest of that dimension usually comes with thousands of incidents, injured people, destroyed property and so on. But aside from few looting cases, there is only one case of bigger damage of which the relation to the demonstration is not yet proved."

"We are talking about the explosion on the rooftop of the Kasei Tower, I believe?"

"Yes. It is still unclear what caused the explosion; specialists have ruled out a terrorism attack but more time is needed to analyze the site of the accident. It has been said that the explosion might have been caused by radical demonstrators since the time window overlapped with the peak of the New Equality Movement, but so far, no evidence has been gathered that can prove this assumption."

"I for one do not believe that the explosion is linked to the New Equality Movement. The anger that the protestors have expressed are directed at the government and their law enforcement agency, in other words, the police. But private businesses were not their targets."

"Then it is in our interest to analyze what their protests have achieved. Over a dozen new changes have been announced, but some major ones would be the following two: The government has agreed to reduce the military budget and invest the money in the education sector instead, which should be used to lower the tuition fees and provide cheaper access to school books.

It is a small step compared to the original demands that education should be completely free like in some European countries but it is a move forward, which should not be taken lightly as it comes along with a second major change."

"Yes, and that is something that will relieve millions of people in this nation. The taxation of households in the lowest income range will be reduced by half. Salaries beneath the limit of 1,000,000 Yen will be completely exempt of the tax liability. Special cases can even demand financial aids if their salary cannot guarantee a humane living, which includes families with more than three children."

"Ms Morishimo, now that we have all these numbers and facts, how can we describe the New Equality Movement in one precise statement?"

"It is in one word, revolutionary. And with that, I mean the character of the movement, and not the changes it brought although those are remarkable too. But like every historic event, the New Equality Movement must have had its roots in the clever minds of few brave people.

We don't know who they are. We don't know how they mobilized such a large and diverse crowd to fight for the same cause. They are people just like us, people who blend in with society and yet, they are more than that. We will never know their names and they don't want us to know their names. But isn't it somewhat comforting to know that there are people out there who fight like heroes without needing the affirmation of being one?"

* * *

"Everything ready?"

"Yes."

"Eli?"

"Same here."

"Good, then let's go."

"No wait-"

"Umi, you know we don't have much time left," Maki groaned, glancing at her watch. "It's too late to back out now."

"I'm not backing out," Umi muttered, nervously pulling at her tie. "I know exactly what I agreed to."

"Then let's do this," Maki said, clapping Umi on the shoulder to encourage her. "You know we're right here with you. Whatever happens, we've got you."

Eli chuckled, nodding. "You can do this, Umi. Maki went through it too, and look, she's still living and breathing."

"Yeah," Maki breathed out with a quiet laugh. "Umi, you'll be fine. When I was in your place a year ago, I also thought I was about to die. But thinking of seeing Nico again was what pulled me through."

Umi swallowed and nodded. "Okay. I'm ready."

"Great, then let's end this night with a bang."

Umi chuckled lowly. "Never thought we'd hear that coming from you."

"Well, that happens when you're married to someone who talks like that," Maki shrugged, but smiled. "But you'll know pretty soon yourself what I'm talking about, Umi." She glanced at her watch again. "In like, five minutes."

"Which is why we need to go now," Eli said impatiently, brushing off a few dust particles off Umi's black suit. "Do you want to become a part of the Minami family or not?"

Umi smiled, and for the first time, Maki and Eli felt like they were looking at a bright, happy woman in her twenties, free of burden and regret.

"Yes. I do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who’s followed me on this wild ride from start to finish and to everyone who wasn’t afraid of joining me midway, I bow down to you. I couldn’t have done that without your support. 
> 
> If you liked this story, please also check out the amazing artists who contributed fanart for this story: http://jstonedd.tumblr.com/tagged/soldier-wars-au


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